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THE  DISTAFF  SERIES 


THE      DISTAFF1     SERIES. 

16mo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  $1  00  each. 


WOMAN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION.    Edited  by 

ANNA  C.  BRACKKTT. 
THE    LITERATURE    OF    PHILANTHROPY.      Edited    by 

FRANCES  A.  GOODALE. 

EARLY  PROSE  AND  VERSE.     Edited  by  ALICE   MOUSE 

EABLE  and  EMILY  ELLSWORTH  FORD. 

THE  KINDERGARTEN.    Edited  by  KATE  DOUGLAS  WIOGIN, 
HOUSEHOLD  ART.     Edited  by  CANDACB  WHKELEB. 
SHORT  STORIES.     Edited  by  CONSTANCE  GARY  HARRISON. 

PUBLISHED   BY    HARPER   &    BROTHERS,   N.   Y. 


tale  by  all  booktellert,  or  will  be  tent,  pottage  pre- 
paid. to  ana  part  of  the  United  States,  Canada,  or  Mexico,  on 
receipt  of  the  price. 


The  Literature 


OF 


PHILANTHROPY 


EDITED  BY 

FRANCES  A.  GOODALE 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
MDCCCXCIII 


Copyright,  1893,  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS. 

An  right*  raened. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

GENERAL  INTRODUCTION vii 

BY  MRS.  BLANCHE  WILDER  BELLAMY. 

THE  LITERATURE   OF  PHILANTHROPY    ...      1 
BY  MRS.  FRANCES  A.  GOODALK. 

CRIMINAL  REFORM 9 

BY  MRS.  C.  R.  LOWELL  (Josephine  Shaw  Lowell). 

TENEMENT  NEIGHBORHOOD  IDEA.     First  Paper    23 
BY  MRS.  JEAN  FINS  SPAHR  and  Miss  FANNIE  W.  MCLEAN. 

TENEMENT   NEIGHBORHOOD   IDEA  — UNIVER- 
SITY SETTLEMENT.     Second  Paper   ....     35 
BY  Miss  HELEN  MOORE. 

TENEMENT  NEIGHBORHOOD   IDEA— MEDICAL 
WOMEN  IN  TENEMENTS.     Third  Paper    .    .    48 
BY  DR.  MARY  B.  DAMON. 

THE  TRAINED  NURSE 65 

BY  Miss  AGNES  L.  BRENNAN. 

THE  SOCIETY  OF  THE   RED   CROSS      ....     77 
BY  MRS.  LAURA  M.  DOOLITTLB. 

THE  INDIAN.    First  Paper 116 

BY  MRS.  AMELIA  STONK  QUISTOS. 


Pasre 

THE  INDIAN  — A    WOMAN  AMONG  THE   IND- 
IANS.   Second  Paper 129 

BY  MRS.  ELAINE  GOODALB  EASTMAN. 

THE  ANTISLAVERY   STRUGGLE .141 

EXTRACTS  FROM  VARIOUS  WRITERS. 

>  THE  ANTISLAVERY  LEGACY 147 

BY  MRS.  MAUD  WILDER  GOODWIN. 
From  the  "Popular  Science  Monthly.1' 

THE   NEGRO  AND  CIVILIZATION 161 

BY  MR&  JULIA  MARGARET  FULLER  LLOYD. 
From  the  "2V.  Y.  Evening  Post.'11 

THE   EDUCATION  OF  THE   BLIND 170 

BY  MRS.  FREDERICK  RHINELANDER  JONES. 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 


THE  series  of  collections,  of  which  this  volume 
is  a  part,  is  made  up  of  representative  work  of 
the  women  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  period- 
ical literature. 

This  literature  has  been  classified  under  its 
conspicuous  divisions — Poetry,  Fiction,  History, 
Art,  Biography,  Translation,  Literary  Criticism, 
and  the  like. 

A  woman  of  eminent  success  in  each  depart- 
ment has  then  been  asked  to  make  a  collection 
of  representative  work  in  that  department;  to 
include  in  it  an  example  of  her  own  work,  and 
to  place  her  name  upon  the  volume  as  its 
Editor. 

These  selections  have  been  made,  as  far  as 
possible,  chronologically,  beginning  with  the 
earliest  work  of  the  century,  in  order  that 
the  volumes  may  carry  out  the  plan  of  the 


"Exhibit  of  Women's  Work  in  Literature  in 
the  State  of  New  York,"  of  which  they  are 
an  original  part. 

The  aim  of  this  Exhibit  was  to  make  a  rec- 
ord of  literary  work,  limited,  through  necessity, 
both  by  sex  and  locality,  but,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, accurate  and  complete,  and  to  preserve  this 
record  in  the  State  Library  in  the  Capitol  at 
Albany. 

It  includes  twenty-five  hundred  books,  begin- 
ning with  the  works  of  Charlotte  Ramsay  Lennox, 
the  first-born  female  author  of  the  province  of 
New  York,  published  in  London  in  1759,  closing 
with  the  pages  of  a  translation  of  Herder,  still 
wet  from  the  press,  and  comprising  the  works  of 
almost  every  author  in  the  intervening  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  years. 

It  includes  also  three  hundred  papers  read  be- 
fore the  literary  clubs  of  the  State,  a  summary 
of  the  work  of  all  writers  for  the  press,  and  the 
folios  which  preserve  the  work  of  many  able 
women  who  have  not  published  books. 

The  women  of  the  State  of  New  York  have 
had  the  honor  of  decorating  and  furnishing  the 
Library  of  the  Women's  Building.  Believing 


the  best  equipment  of  a  library  to  be  literature, 
they  have  therefore  prepared  this  Exhibit ;  and 
have  made  its  character  comprehensive  and  his- 
toric, in  order  that  it  may  not  be  temporary,  but 
that  it  may  be  preserved  in  the  State  Library, 
and  may  have  permanent  value  for  future  lovers 
and  students  of  Americana. 

BLANCHE  WILDKR  BELLAMY, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Literature 
of  the  Board  of  Women  Managers  of  the 
State  of  New  York. 


THE  LITERATURE  OF 
PHILANTHROPY 


THE  LITEKATUEE  OF  PHILAN- 
THROPY. 

BY  FRANCES  A.  GOODALE. 

THE  written  record  of  philanthropic  move- 
ments, individual  or  collective,  crude  or 
systematic,  is  its  unit  of  value  in  guiding  or 
in  warning  fresh  philanthropic  impulses  and 
new  undertakings.  He  who  would  choose, 
if  circumstances  have  not  chosen  for  him, 
that  which,  among  the  different  lines  of 
good  work,  he  can  do  and  ought  to  do,  may 
find  in  printed  record  a  glorious  list  of  mau's 
humanities  to  man,  all  crying:  Come  over 
and  help  us !  For  although  humane  impulse 
be  instinctive,  as  ancient  as  human  society, 
although  tenderness  for  the  sufferer  together 
with  yearning  pain  over  the  sinner  followed 
hard  upon  the  loss  of  innocence,  yet  only 
Literature  has  preserved  the  story.  She 
chronicles  mistakes,  warns  of  pitfalls,  and 
notes  what  methods  have  brought  blessing. 

Literature  has  done  more  than  compi- 
lation-service. She  has  brought  Pliilan- 
l 


tli ropy  out  of  the  chaos  of  occasional  and 
often  misdirected  pity  into  organic  struc- 
ture, with  regulating  mechanism  and  obedi- 
ent members,  with  nerves  quick  to  receive 
sensations  of  comfort  or  distress,  and  other 
nerves  that  transmit  the  message  to  govern- 
ing brain-bureau.  Literature  has  brought 
Philanthropy  from  the  inorganic  to  the  or- 
ganic, from  the  letter  which  kills  to  the 
law  which  gives  life.  Nature  has  no  mercy 
upon  foolish  good  intentions,  and  never  in- 
terposes to  prevent  their  harvest  of  harm. 
It  is  Nature's  inexorable  law  that  undis- 
ciplined Charity  shall  not  bless;  that  un- 
wise Love  shall  never  be  beneficent;  that 
Wisdom  is  born  of  Experience.  Now  ex- 
perience recorded  is  Literature ;  and  it  is 
written  that  Philanthropy  cannot  be  di- 
vorced from  Education  nor  from  Religion. 
The  three  are  one.  They  are  under  one  law, 
they  serve  one  master,  they  bring  one  gos- 
pel. All  aim  to  deliver  men  from  the  shack- 
les of  sense  by  the  victory  of  the  spirit ;  all 
recognize  the  equal  need  of  reasoning  mind 
.and  feeling  heart  in  their  work  of  extirpat- 
ing sin  and  bringing  redemption. 

Ours  is  a  period  of  seething  and  struggle. 
From  .-ill  trades  and  professions, from  society, 
even  from  the  children  one  hears  complaint 


of  the  complexities  and  the  over-demands 
of  life.  Life's  complexity  has  increased  iu 
tbe  slums,  in  the  jails,  and  hospitals — com- 
plexity of  nervous  system,  of  temptations 
and  of  su  florin  £  there,  as  among  the  happier 
classes.  In  order  to  meet  these  harder  con- 
ditions, to  divert  movements  which  threat- 
en revolution  and  retrogression,  in  order  to 
built  up  noble  national  character  upon  the 
only  sure  basis,  that  of  noble  individual 
character,  partition  of  interests  between  rich 
and  poor  must  be  broken  down.  Both  must 
sincerely  recognize  the  eternal  reciprocity 
of  joy  and  sorrow,  of  loss  and  gain ;  there 
must  seem  to  be  and  there  must  be,  alike  for 
both,  one  law,  one  country,  one  patriotism. 

It  is  this  characteristic  of  federation  of 
interests  and  personal  intercourse,  this  qual- 
ity of  identification,  which  underlies  the 
Tenement  Neighborhood  idea.  It  differs 
from  other  lines  of  philanthropic  work  iu 
this,  that  it  seems  almost  beyond  possibility 
to  take  it  out  of  private  and  individual 
hands,  and  to  organize  and  direct  it  system- 
atically, without  loss  of  the  human-brother- 
hood motive  and  prejudice  to  the  individu- 
ality and  the  self-respect  of  the  poor.  Slaves 
and  Indians  were  under  such  manifestly  pe- 
culiar conditions  that  it  did  them  no  harm 


to  treat  their  wrongs  en  Hoc,  erecting  relief 
and  reform  into  a  system.  Criminals,  too, 
to  a  certain  degree,  may  be  treated  as  a 
class  apart,  put  there  by  their  own  acts,  and 
a  science  of  Criminology  become  thereby 
practicable.  But  with  the  poor  it  is  differ- 
ent. Want  and  bodily  ailment  are  not  the 
worst  evils  encountered  in  the  tenement,  but 
individual  ambition  paralyzed,  conscience 
calloused,  self-respect  lost.  These  are  symp- 
toms of  degeneracy  and  moral  death  of  the 
individual ;  they  present  desperate  menace 
to  the  State,  and  call  for  treatment  at  once 
resolute,  tender,  and  silent.  Three  agencies 
of  reform  represent  the  most  profound  hopes 
of  this  nineteenth  century.  They  are,  iirst, 
the  monition  of  the  crucified  One,  exempli- 
fied by  himself  to  the  uttermost :  Love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself.  Second,  the  physio- 
logical regimen  of  cleanliness  and  sunshine, 
enforced  by  such  opinion  as  that  of  the  emi- 
nent English  physician,  Alfred  Carpenter, 
who  said  of  the  worst  born  specimens  of 
children  in  a  great  Reform  School,  "  They 
seem  to  teach  ns  that  not  even  one  genera- 
tion of  change  is  required  to  wipe  out  a 
generation  of  defects  when  personal  health 
is  well  looked  after."  The  third  remedial 
agency  is  the  Manual  Training  School,  bring- 


ing  interests  into  the  children's  lives,  who 
"learn  by  doing." 

The  accompanying  papers  iu  this  volume 
present  a  brief  summing-up  of  work  already 
done,  change  effected,  ends  not  yet  com- 
passed, and  further  help  needed ;  the  present 
statistics,  in  short,  of  the  more  prominent 
among  the  many  enterprises  organized  "  to 
bear  Our  Father's  message  to  the  largest 
household  on  earth,  the  household  of  afflic- 
tion." They  are  presented  by  women  who 
have  thought  as  well  as  worked.  The  stories 
are  variations  of  one  great  theme :  the  in- 
variable, close  interdependence  and  insepa- 
rable interests  of  the  different  members  of  the 
Body  Social. 

How  Literature  moves  the  world  to  Phi- 
lanthropy let  the  jail -delivery  wrought  by 
Charles  Dickens  tell ;  the  moans  of  prison- 
ers that  died  unheard  until  Charles  Eeade 
became  their  month-piece ;  the  piteous  plight 
of  the  Red  Men  fallen  among  thieves,  until 
good  literature  and  bad,  Helen  Hunt  and 
Congressional  records  of  proposed  legisla- 
tive iniquity,  alike  summoned  a  protesting 
corps  of  good  Samaritans.  Let  the  search- 
light witness  flashed  upon  slavery's  horrors 
by  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe ;  the  dormant 
patriotism  fired  by  Hosea  Biglow  ;  the  voi- 


cing  by  Julia  Ward  Howe,  iu  the  glorious 
"  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,"  of  a  nation's 
spontaneous  consecration  to  the  cause  of 
righteousness — those  all  attest  specific  de- 
liverances wrought  when  Philanthropy  and 
Literature  worked  hand  in  hand. 

What  inspiration  to  courage  and  to  zeal- 
ous work,  what  rebuke  to  despondency  lies 
in  the  record  of  the  Society  for  the  Aboli- 
tion of  Human  Slavery,  now  closed  in  honor 
and  success,  with  "  Finis  "  stamped  upon  its 
seal !  No  enterprise  would  seein  to  be  more 
hopeless  and  thankless,  more  opprobrious 
even  than  was  this  at  its  inception.  And 
till  the  very  end  its  counsels  were  weak- 
ened, its  work  was  hindered  by  enormous 
divergences  of  opinion  among  its  sincerest 
friends.  It  was  a  long  step  from  the  uncon- 
ditional abolitionist  to  the  gradual  emanci- 
pationist who  would  abolish  the  admitted 
evil,  but  by  process  of  law  and  time  and 
money -compensation  for  "property"  alien- 
ated. 

But  oven  this  wide  area  of  sentiment  did 
not  include  all  the  educated,  the  virtuous, 
the  church-membership.  There  were  North- 
ern pulpits  that  thundered  divine  sanction 
of  slave-holding;  Northern  legislators  who 
made  criminal  and  Northern  judges  who  en- 


forced  punishment  not  only  of  those  who 
abetted  fugitive  slaves,  bnt  of  those  who 
passively  refrained  from  seizing  or  hunting 
them ;  while  thousands  upon  thousands  shut 
their  eyes  and  their  hearts  and  tried  to  feel 
it  no  concern  of  theirs,  and  thought  the  agi- 
tators ill-bred  and  pestilent  folk  who  caused 
as  much  unpleasantness  as  did  slavery  it- 
self. Northern  friendships  were  broken 
and  Northern  homes  rendered  more  unhappy 
than  were  Southern  when  pioneers  were  first 
called  for,  and  the  movement  furnished  one 
more  verification  of  the  truth  of  Christ's 
words,  that  he  came  to  bring  not  peace  but 
a  sword. 

Yet  on  her  eightieth  birthday,  a  few  days 
since,  one  of  the  few  surviving  women  active 
among  the  giant  moral  forces  and  heroic 
in  anti-slavery  warfare,  writes  to  another, 
her  octogenarian  comrade :  "  What  memories 
are  ours !  Disabled  as  I  am  I  look  across 
those  memorable  thirty-five  years,  and  the 
old  scenes  and  faces  cotne  thronging  around 
me.  I  hear  the  old  familiar  voices,  feel  the 
hand-clasp  of  the  rescued  slave,  and  thrill 
with  the  '  rapture  of  the  strife !'" 

That  rapture  was  fearful,  and  very  costly. 
In  onr  heritage  of  its  splendid  peace  and 
harmony  we  must  not  permit  its  terrible 


records  to  grow  mouldy  nor  be  lost.  Jour- 
nals and  magaziuea  were  depositories  of  facts 
and  commentaries  of  permanent  value.  Peri- 
odical literature,  now  as  then,  mirrors  faith- 
fully the  passing  shadow  of  the  age.  It 
moulds  it,  too,  for  better,  for  worse. 

Well  if  they  who  handle  the  serious  theme 
of  philanthropy  qualify  themselves  for  the 
responsibility  by  clean  hearts  and  right  un- 
derstandings. For  although  this  periodical 
literature  is  styled  "  ephemeral,"  some  of  it 
shall  onHivethe  stately  and  treasured  book, 
as  the  tiny  figurine  of  clay  and  the  tear-bot- 
tles of  glass  have  survived  temples  and  pal- 
aces, and,  like  the  butterfly,  these  ephemera 
may  actually  stand  as  the  symbol  of  im- 
mortality. 


CRIMINAL    EEFORM. 

BY  MRS.  C.  R.  LOWELL  (Josephine  Shaw  Lowell). 

THE  topic  for  my  paper,  excluding  the 
wide  field  of  private  charity  and  the  duty 
of  individual  to  individual,  is  the  duty  of  the 
community,  as  a  corporate  body,  to  that  part 
of  itself  which  has  been  well  called  "  the 
perishing  and  dangerous  classes."  As  the 
first  step  in  the  consideration  of  the  subject, 
some  conclusion  must  be  established  in  re- 
gard to  the  end  which  any  system  of  public 
charities  and  correction,  as  distinguished 
from  private  charity,  is  intended  to  serve, 
and  the  meaning  of  a  good  or  bad  system 
must  be  defined.  My  own  opinion  is  that 
the  only  justification  for  the  expenditure  of 
public  money  is  the  public  good — that  is,  the 
good  of  the  whole  mass  of  the  people.  No 
government  is  authorized  to  levy  taxes  on 
one  part  of  the  community  for  the  benefit 
of  another  part;  the  honest  working  por- 
tion of  the  people  should  not  be  deprived 
against  their  will  of  their  hard-earned  money 


1(1 


for  the  caro  of  that  portion  which  is  shift- 
less, incompetent,  and  vicious,  unless,  in  the 
end,  the  result  is  to  be  for  the  advantage  of 
the  tax-payers  themselves. 

To  me  the  word  "  charity,"  as  used  to 
designate  public  money  paid  out  for  the  sup- 
port of  paupers,  is  a  misnomer,  and  does 
much  harm  by  causing  confusion  in  the 
minds  of  officials  aud  tax-payers.  Charity 
is  an  act  of  kindness  from  one  individual  to 
another;  there  is  no  charity  in  the  payment 
of  taxes,  nor  is  the  official  who  expends  the 
money  raised  by  taxation  performing  an  act 
of  charity,  "  He  is  simply  administering  a 
public  trust." 

Thus  any  system  of  caring  for  criminals 
which  does  not  seek  to  lessen  the  burdens 
of  the  people  by  diminishing  crime  is  defi- 
cient in  the  first  requisite  of  a  good  system  ; 
and  any  system  which  encourages  crime 
and  pauperism  is  far  worse  than  none,  and 
should  bo  destroyed  to  make  way  for  some- 
thing better. 

To  seize  upon  the  earnings  of  hard-worked 
men  and  women,  and  with  those  earnings  to 
maintain  with  public  money  prisons  which 
are  actually  schools  of  vice  and  crime  are 
acts  which  do  no  credit  to  a  civilized  com- 
munity, and  yet  I  fear  they  are  acts  of  which, 


11 


in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  every  community 
in  this  country  is  guilty  to-day. 

The  whole  feeling  in  regard  to  what  is 
usually  called  "  charity  "  must  be  changed 
before  we  can  have  a  really  good  system  of 
public  care  for  paupers  and  criminals.  It  is 
generally  accounted  creditable  when  a  com- 
munity spends  a  great  deal  of  money  for 
"  charity  "  and  has  many  "  charitable  insti- 
tutions." This  arises  from  the  preconceived 
idea  that  in  every  community  there  is  and 
must  be  a  given  amount  of  poverty  and 
disease,  and  that  to  relieve  the  sufferings 
consequent  upon  these  afflictions  is  a  Chris- 
tian duty.  We  seldom  reflect  that  it  is  a 
higher  and  far  more  difficult  Christian  duty 
to  prevent  this  poverty  and  disease,  or  that 
to  have  allowed  a  large  proportion  of  the 
population  to  become  poor,  sick,  insane,  and 
criminal  was  a  grievous  neglect  of  duty. 
Every  hospital  is  a  proof  that  sanitary  meas- 
ures have  been  ignored ;  every  poor-house 
and  asylum  is  a  proof  that  a  part  of  the 
people  have  not  been  educated  to  industry 
and  thrift;  every  prison  is  a  proof  that  they 
have  not  been  trained  to  self-control  and 
honesty;  and  every  insane  asylum  is  a  proof 
that  many  of  God's  laws,  moral  and  physi- 
cal, have  been  broken  either  by  the  nn- 


happy  inmates  themselves  or  by  their  par- 
ents. Is  there  iu  such  facts  any  cause  for 
pride  T 

Is  it  conceivable  that  iu  a  family  of  twelve 
brothers  and  sisters,  of  whom  six  were  pros- 
perous, health}',  and  rich,  while  six  were  ei- 
ther insane,  criminal,  imbecile,  or  poor,  the 
first  six  should  pride  themselves  upon  the 
fact  that  they  were  able  and  willing  to 
maintain  their  unhappy  relations  in  com- 
parative comfort  ?  Would  they  not  rather 
feel  that  the  miserable  condition  of  their 
brothers  and  sisters  was  cause  for  sorrow  and 
shame,  showing  either  a  radical  taint  in  the 
family,  or  some  fearful  error  in  education? 

In  like  manner  should  we  feel  when  we 
see  our  brothers  and  sisters  sick  and  help- 
less and  degraded,  and  we  should  do  our 
best,  with  God's  help,  both  to  raise  them 
and  to  prevent  their  children  from  ever 
needing  the  same  kind  of  assistance. 

I  have  devised  a  plan  by  which  I  believe 
that  this  object  might  be  attained. 

In  every  city  there  should  be  three  De- 
partments, to  be  named  respectively  : 

1.  The  Department  for  the  Care  of  Chil- 
dren. 

2.  The  Department  for  the  Care  of  Public 
Dependents. 


3.  The  Department  for  tho  Reduction  of 
Crime. 

These  Departments  should  eacli  be  gov- 
erned by  a  separate  Board,  the  members  to  be 
men  and  women,  appointed  by  the  Mayor  of 
the  city  for  life,  unless  sooner  removed  for 
incompetence  or  for  violation  or  neglect  of 
duty,  and  required  to  give  their  whole  time 
to  their  office,  receiving  a  sufficient  salary 
to  justify  this  demand. 

I.  With  the  Department  for  the  Care  of 
Children  would  rest  the  duty  of  so  dealing 
with  the  little  ones  intrusted  to  it  that  they 
may  gradually  but  surely  be  cut  off  from  the 
influences  which  have  brought  their  parents 
to  a  condition  of  dependence,  and  become 
absorbed  into  the  bulk  of  the  population, 
with  no  memory  even,  if  it  can  be  avoided, 
of  anything  suggestive  of  pauperism  or 
crime.  No  child  should  ever  for  a  moment 
be  allowed  to  associate  with  paupers  and 
criminals,  and  the  States  of  New  York  and 
Massachusetts  have  been  wise  in  forbidding 
the  sending  of  children  to  poor-houses  and 
jails  for  destitution  and  vagrancy.  They 
should  go  further,  however,  and  provide 
that  no  official  who  has  charge  of  paupers 
or  criminals  should  have  authority  of  any 
sort  over  a  dependent  child.  The  creation 


II 


of  a  separate  department  for  their  care  I 
believe  to  be  a  necessity,  but  ndt  for  the 
purpose  of  housing  them  in  public  institu- 
tions;  this  department  should  have  bnt  one 
institution  (apart,  from  schools)  under  its 
control  —  a  cent  ml  temporary  home,  into 
which  should  be  received  all  children  who 
have  any  claim  upon  public  support,  pend- 
ing the  examination  of  that  claim.  In  New 
York  City  the  custom  has,  most  unfortu- 
nately, grown,  up  of  requiring  that  judges 
shall  commit  children  to  private  institutions, 
as  a  necessary  condition  of  obtaining  pay- 
ment from  the  city  for  their  support.  This 
undoubtedly  is  a  dangerous  proceeding,  since 
the  familiarization  with  a  court  of  law  tends 
to  destroy  the  dread  of  arrest,  which  should 
be  fostered  as  one  of  the  strongest  deter- 
rent influences  against  crime.  To  bring  a 
child  before  a  judge  in  a  criminal  court  in 
order  to  secure  his  entrance  into  an  institu- 
tion of  charity  is  a  most  unwise  measure. 
If  children  whose  parents  are  living  are 
placed  in  institutions,  there  should  bo  a  con- 
stant pressure  brought  to  bear  on  the  par- 
nils  to  contribute  towards  tlieir  support, 
and  as  soon  as  they  are  able,  they  should  bo 
required  to  take  them  back,  or  if  unable  or 
unlit  to  do  this  after  a  given  number  of 


years,  they  should  forfeit  all  claim  to  them. 
Besides  these  duties  in  regard  to  children 
who  are  fit  subjects  for  public  support,  tbe 
Department  for  the  Care  of  Children  should 
have  the  control  and  management  of  In- 
dustrial Day  Schools,  and  attendance  should 
be  made  compulsory  on  all  vagrant  and 
truant  children.  By  such  means  the  De- 
partment for  the  Care  of  Children  would  be 
a  potent  factor  iu  the  work  of  diminishing 
crime. 

II.  The  Department  for  the  Care  of  Pub- 
lic Dependents  should  have  charge  of  the 
public  hospital,  insane  asylum,  almshouse, 
and  workhouse,  the  last  to  receive  only 
persons  committed  as  destitute.  There  are 
two  means  of  reducing  pauperism :  First, 
by  preventing  accessions  to  the  ranks  of 
paupers  from  without,  which  can  be  accom- 
plished by  rendering  pauperism  unattractive, 
and  by  the  general  enlightenment  of  the 
people;  and,  second,  by  restoring  individual 
paupers  to  manhood  and  independence.  The 
Department  can  make  use  of  both  these 
methods,  by  the  adoption  of  judicious  disci- 
pline within  the  institutions,  and  by  refusing 
to  give  relief  outside  of  institutions.  The 
aim  being  to  cure  the  individual,  whether  of 
sickness,  insanity,  intemperance,  or  simply 


1C, 


of  the  tendency  to  be  shiftless  and  lazy,  the 
same  system  should  be  enforced  in  all  the 
various  buildings  under  the  charge  of  the 
Department.  To  train  the  mental  and  moral 
nature  should  be  the  first  object. 

III.  The  Department  for  the  Reduction  of 
Crime  would  have,  as  its  name  imports,  a 
wide  field  of  labor,  and  I  have  chosen  this 
name  for  it  in  order  that  every  one,  inside 
of  it  and  outside  of  it,  may  fully  recognize 
what  is  the  main  end  of  its  creation,  and 
that  the  care  of  criminals  and  the  super- 
vision of  prisons  may  be  put  in  their  proper 
subordinate  places,  as  one  means  only  of  ac- 
complishing the  real  work  of  the  depart- 
ment. I  would  place  under  the  charge  of  this 
branch  of  the  city  government  not  only  the 
reformatory  institutions  in  the  city  (includ- 
ing those  for  juvenile  offenders),  but  the 
station-houses  and  police  force,  which  latter 
should  be  its  agents  to  prevent  as  well  as 
to  detect  crime,  to  protect  the  weak  who 
cannot  resist  temptation  unaided,  to  watch 
habitual  criminals  when  at  large,  and  to 
guard  those  undergoing  sentence. 

If  it  were  possible  it  would,  I  am  sure,  bo 
well  that  the  judges  should  in  some  way  be 
connected  with  this  department,  and,  in  any 
event,  the  management  of  the  courts  should 


17 


be  a  part  of  its  business.  It  seems  to  rue 
that  the  harm  done  by  our  courts,  as  at 
present  governed,  is  not  at  all  recognized. 
The  publicity  to  which  all  persons  ou  trial 
are  exposed  is  in  itself  a  serious  evil,  espe- 
cially in  the  case  of  children  and  young 
women,  breaking  down  and  destroying  all 
natural  modesty  and  making  them  in  very 
deed  "  brazen  faced,"  while  it  also  fosters 
the  love  of  notoriety  which  is  so  common  in 
weak  natures  as  to  be  a  strong  incentive  to 
crime  among  a  certain  class.  I  am  sure  that 
at  least  the  trials  of  women  and  children 
should  be  conducted  in  comparative  privacy, 
only  certain  persons  being  allowed  to  be 
present.  We  have  passed  the  time  when 
we  need  a  public  trial  to  insure  justice  for 
the  accused. 

There  is  no  doubt  also  that  the  station- 
houses  are,  in  many  cities,  places  of  con- 
tamination and  degradation.  There  should 
be  special  buildings  for  the  temporary  im- 
prisonment of  women,  and  women -officers 
should  be  employed  to  guard  them ;  and 
here,  as  well  as  in  conveying  prisoners  to 
aud  from  the  reformatories,  they  should 
be  protected  from  contamination  by  every 
known  means.  I  speak  only  of  reforma- 
tories, for  there  should  be  no  prison  or  peni- 
2 


teutiary  "which  is  not  a  reformatory ;  and 
here  I  believe  that  the  State  of  New  York 
can  furnish,  iu  the  institution  at  Elmira,  an 
example  for  other  States  and  cities  to  follow. 
The  right  principle  has  been  adopted  and 
carried  out  in  this  reformatory ;  the  prisoners 
are  sentenced  practically  for  an  indetermi- 
nate period,  and  the  managers  may,  at  their 
discretion,  send  them  out  on  probation,  or 
finally  discharge  them.  Here  \ve  have  the 
only  rational  means  of  dealing  with  offend- 
ers against  the  law.  It  is  a  truism  to  state 
that  the  very  same  crime  may  be  committed 
either  by  a  comparatively  innocent  man, 
who,  it  is  morally  certain,  will  never  trans- 
gress again,  or  by  a  man  who  is  a  standing 
menace  to  society  ;  but  notwithstanding  this 
fact,  the  law  now  requires  that  the  first 
man  shall  pay  very  much  the  same  penalty 
as  the  second,  whereas  were  these  two  men 
both  simply  committed  to  the  charge  of  the 
Department  for  the  Reduction  of  Crime, 
that  department,  after  a  short  test,  would 
discharge  the  repentant  and  humbled  citi- 
zen, sure  that  the  terror  of  crime  itself  would 
in  the  future  save  him  from  any  further 
offence ;  while  the  hardened  criminal  would 
be  placed  under  such  teaching  as  would  save 
him,  too,  from  future  trangressiou  of  the 


19 


law,  even  if  a  discipline  of  ten  or  twenty 
years  were  required  to  insure  that  end.  If 
tlie  object  be,  as  it  should,  to  protect  society, 
why  should  not  au  irresponsible  criminal  be 
treated  as  an  irresponsible  insane  patient  is 
dealt  with,  the  superintendent  in  charge  of 
each  deciding  when  he  may  safely  be  trusted 
at  large?  With  proper  regulations  and  effi- 
cient supervision  by  the  police  to  save  them 
from  their  own  weakness,  a  large  number  of 
criminals  who  are  now  shut  up  in  demoraliz- 
ing idleness  and  vile  companionship  might 
be  safely  allowed  at  liberty ;  thus  saving 
them  from  debasing  influences,  and  the  State 
from  the  necessity  of  supporting  them.  But 
there  is  a  smaller  number,  now  periodically 
turned  loose  to  prey  upon  their  fellows,  who 
are  as  dangerous  as  any  madman,  and  who 
ought  always  to  be  kept  uuder  control. 
Thus  our  folly  is  apparent  in  both  direc- 
tions :  we  keep  masses  of  men  shut  up  who 
are  quite  capable  of  being  useful  and  valu- 
able members  of  society,  while  we  constant- 
ly unchain  wild  beasts,  knowing  them  to  be 
such,  waiting  for  some  overt  act  before  we 
dare  to  lay  our  hands  upon  them  again. 

Uuder  the  rule  of  the  Department  for  the 
Reduction  of  Crime  the  number  of  criminals 
imprisoned  would  surely  be  greatly  dimin- 


ished,  and  the  training  of  all  actually  in  re- 
straint would  be  such  as  to  teach  them  the 
lessons  they  failed  to  learn  from  the  influ- 
ences of  a  uatural  life ;  while  those  who 
could  not  learn  would  never  bo  allowed  the 
opportunity  to  injure  themselves  and  their 
fellow-men.  Our  present  system  of  treating 
prisoners  is  generally  the  exact  opposite  of 
this ;  and,  in  this  connection,  I  cannot  re- 
frain from  quoting  from  a  letter  of  Mr.  T.  B. 
Lloyd  Baker,  of  Gloucester,  England,  written 
on  April  23d  of  this  year:  "I  cannot  but 
hope  that  yon  will  give  attention  to  the 
work  of  improvement  of  prisons  by  sending 
the  prisoners  forth  to  the  world  tinder  careful 
watch,  and  by  using  prisons  as  little  as  pos- 
sible. The  common  prisons  are  a  terrible 
evil.  I  cannot  believe  that  the  country 
which  gave  not  only  so  much  money  but  so 
many  noble  lives  to  the  cause  of  extirpating 
slavery,  can  continue  much  longer  not  only 
to  imprison  the  bodies,  but  also  to  ruin  the 
souls  of  its  own  citizens,  when  a  great  im- 
provement might,  as  I  believe,  be  made  with 
very  slight  expenditure  in  the  first  place, 
and  with  actually  considerable  saving  in 
the  end.  Perhaps  I  am  the  more  cheered  iu 
this  belief  at  the  present  moment  by  a 
letter  from  the  Governor  of  the  prison  at 


Gloucester.  Our  average  number  in  prison 
iu  1870  was  279;  iu  1875  it  was  209.  Since 
then  it  has  gradually  lowered  to  170,  160, 
etc.,  but  for  the  last  three  months  the  aver- 
age has  been  131.  Of  course  we  must  not 
consider  this  a  permanent  lowering,  but  only 
a  pleasant  omen."  With  reference  to  the 
causes  to  which  Mr.  Baker  ascribes  the  dim- 
inution iu  crime  I  quote  from  his  answer 
to  the  inquiries  made  by  a  French  society : 
"  Our  number  in  prison  has  diminished,  not- 
withstanding increase  of  population,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  that  a  considerable  portion  of 
this  decrease  should  be  attributed  to  the  fact 
of  the  establishment  of  a  police  endeavor- 
ing still  more  to  prevent  than  to  detect 
crime,  of  reformatories  for  juveniles,  and  the 
adoption  of  cumulative  punishment  for  the 
heavier  class  of  crimes  (we  have  not  yet  ob- 
tained the  power  of  thus  dealing  with  minor 
offences).  I  hold  strongly  that  our  great 
object  is  not  that  of  having  the  most  per- 
fectly planned  and  ordered  gaols ;  our  ob- 
ject is  the  reduction  of  crime  to  the  greatest 
degree  that  we  can  effect.  Gaols  and  prisons 
are  one  means  to  that  end,  but  only  one 
means,  and,  so  far  as  my  experience  goes,  not 
the  most  efficacious,  nor  the  least  objection- 
able." 


I  will  add  that  I  believe  the  parents  of 
every  juvenile  offender,  and  the  property,  if 
there  be  any,  belonging  to  every  criminal, 
should  be  liable  for  the  cost  of  supporting 
such  juvenile  offender  and  criminal  in 
prison. 

I  have  not  been  writing  of  "  Charity,"  of 
the  duty  of  each  one  of  us  to  succor  and  up- 
hold our  weaker  fellows,  and  to  give  of  our 
abundance,  time,  thought,  work,  and  life  to 
lessen  their  misery,  but  of  the  question  how 
any  community  may  best  protect  itself  from 
the  ravages  made  upon  its  resources  by 
pauperism  and  crime.  My  views  in  regard 
to  the  two  fields  of  work  are  entirely  dis- 
tinct. My  view  is  that  public  systems  of  re- 
lief are  to  protect  the  community,  while  the 
duty  of  private  organizations,  and  of  all 
men  and  women  who  love  God  and  their 
neighbor,  is  to  guide  and  care  for  every  one 
of  their  fellow-beings  who  is  degraded,  and 
save  him,  body  and  soul,  because  he  is  a 
sou  of  God  and  has  an  eternal  future. 


TENEMENT  NEIGHBORHOOD   IDEA. 

(First  Paper.) 

BY  JEAN  FINE  SPAHR  AND  FANNIE  W.  MoLEAN, 
HEAD-WORKERS. 

THE  College  Settlement  in  New  York 
had  its  origin  in  the  desire  of  a  number  of 
Alumnse  to  do  what  they  could  to  better 
the  social  conditions  in  the  tenement-house 
districts,  and  to  learn  upon  what  lines  prog- 
ress could  be  made.  The  initiative  was 
taken  by  three  graduates  who  were  study- 
ing at  Newnham  College,  Oxford,  at  the 
time  the  Women's  University  Settlement  in 
East  London  was  projected.  The  interest 
in  that  plan  led  them,  on  their  return  to  this 
country,  to  urge  that  a  similar  experiment 
be  undertaken  in  New  York.  The  plan 
found  favor,  and  on  September  1,  1889,  the 
College  Settlement  was  opened  in  an  old  res- 
idence at  95  Rivington  Street,  in  the  densely- 
peopled  district  between  the  Bowery  and  the 


'.24 


East  River.  The  work  that  has  been  done 
there  is  outlined  as  follows  : 

At  the  close  of  the  first  year  of  actual 
working  the  theory  was  proved  to  be  prac- 
tical. In  this  country,  with  its  foreign 
population  and  its  democratic  conditions, 
a  helpful,  friendly  life  among  the  poor  is 
possible. 

The  value  of  such  helpfulness  and  friend- 
liness no  one  can  doubt  who  has  seen  the 
eagerness  of  the  children  to  be  admitted  to 
95  Rivington  Street,  and  their  delight  in  the 
friendship  and  sympathy  of  its  residents. 
Nor  is  the  interest  and  responsiveness  con- 
fined to  the  boys  and  girls,  though  it  is  with 
them  that  the  work  of  the  Settlement  chief- 
ly lies.  Many  a  tired  and  troubled  mother 
tells  of  her  satisfaction  in  knowing  that  her 
boy  is  at  "  the  Club,"  and  application  is 
sometimes  made  for  all  other  members  of 
the  family  to  be  received  into  clubs,  "  to 
keep  them  off  the  street." 

It  was  not  the  original  intention  to  do 
anything  for  boys,  but  their  demand  for  at- 
tention was  so  great  that  one  club  after  an- 
other was  formed  for  them.  The  last  one 
was  organized  when  some  boys,  already 
formed  into  a  "  pleasure  club  "  in  one  of  the 
roughest  streets  of  the  region,  begged  for  an 


evening,  saying,  "We'll  change,  and  have 
your  kind  of  a  club." 

The  aim  of  club  work  is  to  give  practical 
instruction  and  wholesome  amusement,  and 
to  enlarge  the  range  of  interest.  The  girls 
are  taught  cooking,  sewing,  and  dress-mak- 
ing. The  little  ones  have  "  kitchen-garden  " 
work,  and  their  mothers  report  that  the 
children  set  the  table  "  as  they  learn  at 
club."  The  older  girls  listen  to  talks  on 
Hygiene,  Dress,  and  other  practical  matters, 
as  well  as  on  historical  and  scientific  sub- 
jects. Instruction  in  gymnastics  is  given  to 
all,  and  singing  is  one  of  the  most  popular 
features  of  the  clubs.  The  afternoon  or  even- 
ing generally  closes  with  games  or  amuse- 
ment of  some  sort. 

In  the  boys'  clubs  singing  and  gymnas- 
tics, with  military  drill,  are  popular,  and 
games  always  occupy  part  of  the  evening. 
Talks  on  a  variety  of  subjects  are  given. 
The  "  Hero  Club"  listens  to  the  story  of  the 
lives  of  great  men,  and  tries  to  discover  the 
elements  of  success.  The  "  Knights  of  the 
Round  Table"  are  being  taught  to  be  chiv- 
alrous and  true.  Questions  are  given,  to  be 
looked  up  and  reported  on  at  the  next  meet- 
ing. Sometimes  the  boys  take  their  turn  at 
asking  questions. 


M 


The  fact  that  all  the  clubs  require  a  week- 
ly fee  and  are  self-governing  certainly  adds 
to  the  self-respect  of  the  members.  One 
club  of  boys  recently  appointed  a  committee 
to  confer  with  the  "  teacher  "  iu  charge  about 
work  for  next  year. 

Every  club  occasionally  gives  an  enter- 
tainment, to  which  the  members  have  tick- 
ets for  their  friends.  This  plan  riot  only 
keeps  the  interest  of  the  more  fickle  clnb 
members,  but  furnishes  an  attractive  even- 
ing for  others,  and  secures  the  co-operation 
of  the  older  friends  of  the  boys  and  girls. 
Afternoon  teas,  held  once  in  two  or  three 
weeks  for  the  mothers  of  the  club  members 
and  for  other  neighbors,  are  a  successful 
means  of  getting  acquainted.  The  mere  fact 
of  taking  time  to  be  social  is  of  great  value 
to  these  German  women,  who  do  very  little 
"visiting."  It  would  be  hard  to  believe 
that  they  do  not  go  home  refreshed  after  an 
afternoon  in  which  they  have  chatted  over 
their  tea  and  coffee,  listened  to  music,  and 
perhaps  joined  in  a  song  or  two. 

The  library,  grown  from  1000  to  1900  vol- 
umes, is  open  to  the  clubs  and  to  a  large 
number  outside  their  membership.  Books 
have  been  given  during  the  year  to  700  per- 
sona, but  the  number  taking  books  at  one 


87 


time  is  not  over  400.  More  than  10,000 
books  have  been  issued  since  last  November. 
The  boys  clamor  for  history,  and  read  science 
when  put  in  a  popular  form ;  the  girls  read 
chiefly  fiction.  Care  is  taken  to  overlook 
the  reading  of  each  individual;  for  those 
who  are  in  the  work  feel  that  they  wield  no 
more  potent  influence  in  forming  the  ideals 
of  the  boys  and  girls  than  through  the  read- 
ing which  is  given  them.  On  one  evening 
in  the  week  the  young  people  are  admitted 
to  get  books  from  the  library  and  to  spend 
the  evening  in  playing  games.  The  Penny 
Provident  Bank,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Charity  Organization  Society,  is  an  educa- 
tion in  saving  money. 

One  of  the  theories  of  the  work  in  its  be- 
ginning was  that  the  residents  should  work 
in  existing  institutions  —  that  they  should 
strengthen  work  already  started.  This  idea 
has  been  carried  out  by  giving  assistance  in 
the  Neighborhood  Guild,  in  the  Girls'  Friend- 
ly Society,  Sewing  School,  and  Sabbath 
Schools  of  the  neighborhood. 

The  Settlement  has  been  fortunate  in  hav- 
ing a  physician  as  resident.  She  has  opened 
up  a  large  field  of  work — the  work  which  the 
Settlement  cares  most  to  do — helping  one 
sick  neighbor,  befriending  another  in  trouble, 


finding  work  for  a  third,  whose  illness  h;is 
taken  away  a  former  means  of  support.  It 
is  often  through  the  physician  that  cases  are 
known  where  it  is  possible  to  make  connec- 
tion between,  one  who  needs  help  and  a  per- 
son or  an  organization  ready  to  give  it. 

The  bath-rooms  in  the  basement,  where 
baths  are  sold  for  ten  cents  each,  are  patron- 
ized to  an  unexpected  extent.  Women  often 
come  several  miles  for  the  privilege  offered. 

The  yard  in  summer  is  fitted  up  with 
swings  and  a  pile  of  sand,  and  on  Saturdays 
boys  and  girls  are  admitted.  During  the 
summer,  also,  an  ice-water  fountain  attached 
to  the  fence  has  been  in  constant  use  —  a 
powerful  rival,  apparently,  of  the  saloons. 

That  which  is  the  peculiar  feature  of  the 
Settlement,  as  has  been  often  said,  is  that  it 
is  simply  a  home,  where  those  who  wish  may 
go  and  live  for  the  sake  of  becoming  t  lie- 
friends  of  those  about  them.  The  informal 
relations  between  the  Settlement  and  its 
neighbors  are  a  basis  for  much  friendly  in- 
tercourse, but  no  report  can  give  satisfac- 
tory account  of  work  done  during  every  day 
by  every  resident.  We  know  that  our  neigh- 
bors consider  us  their  honest  friends.  They 
believe  that  we  care  for  them  personally — 
that  we  are  interested  in  their  individual 


joys  and  sorrows,  and.  share  onr  own  with 
them.  Our  out-stretched  hands  have  met  in 
the  warm  clasp  of  friendship,  and  we  no 
longer  realize  that  there  is  supposed  to  be  a 
gulf  between  the  different  classes  of  society. 
No  lines  are  drawn  ;  all  are  friends  alike — 
the  poorest  and  the  most  well-to-do,  the  re- 
cent immigrant  and  the  New  Yorker  of  many 
generations,  the  Jew  and  the  Gentile. 

One  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  is  that  we 
have  been  able  to  give  the  charge  of  the 
clubs  more  and  more  into  the  hands  of  the 
members  themselves.  The  ownership  of 
their  clubs,  and  consequently  their  pride  in 
them,  has  created  a  pride  in  their  own  be- 
havior. Interest  in  the  well-being  of  their 
clubs  has  made  better  boys  and  girls  of 
them,  and  they  in  turn  have  improved  the 
clubs.  The  "P.  O.  C.'s,"  the  club  of  old- 
est boys,  have  been  doing  some  good  and 
earnest  work.  They  are  studying  civil  gov- 
ernment, aud  have  had  up  for  discussion  at 
the  meetings  various  of  the  bills  that  have 
come  before  the  New  York  Legislature  dur- 
ing the  ye.'ir.  These  older  boys  are  our 
helpful  assistants  in  many  little  ways.  They 
continue  to  feel  the  sense  of  responsibility 
that  priority  of  years  gives  them,  and  are 
interested  in  maintaining  a  good  standard 


30 


of  behavior  at  the  Settlement.  The  Choral 
Club  has  been  satisfactory.  It  is  under  the 
charge  of  a  thorough  musician ;  the  boys 
have  become  engaged  in  the  real  work  of 
learning  to  read  music  and  how  to  use  the 
voice.  Thus  the  club  has  au  educational 
value. 

One  of  the  bright  successes  is  the  women's 
club,  called  the  Home  Improvement  Club. 
Most  of  its  members  are  the  mothers  of  the 
club  children,  and  the  fact  that  both  moth- 
ers and  children  have  this  interest  iu  the 
Settlement  makes  the  bond  with  us  a  family 
one.  The  mothers'  weekly  meetings,  with 
animated  discussions  on  practical  subjects, 
the  friendly  chat  over  a  cup  of  coffee,  and 
the  little  musicale  afterwards,  have  become 
a  social  event  at  the  Settlement.  The  Pen- 
ny Provident  Bank,  with  an  enrolment  of 
about  five  hundred  depositors,  receives  each 
evening  from  fifty  to  seventy-five,  the  sin- 
gle deposits  varying  from  a  penny  to  two 
dollars.  The  Library  membership  cannot 
increase  if  wo  continue  the  plan  of  allowing 
the  members  to  remain  in  the  house  to  play 
games  after  the  exchange  of  books.  This 
plan  has  seemed  desirable,  as  this  ia  the  only 
opportunity  we  have  of  meeting  socially 
with  some  of  the  boys  and  girls,  and  thus 


81 


we  have  turned  away  many  applicants. 
There  are  four  hundred  and  four  members 
enrolled,  the  great  majority  of  whom  remain 
from  year  to  year,  showing  their  interest  to 
be  real  and  permanent.  Instead  of  empty 
heads  or  heads  filled  with  evil  thoughts, 
their  heads  are  filled  with  good  thoughts, 
and  they  are  shared  with  companions  and 
with  the  family  at  home.  Although  the 
central  library  at  the  Settlement  has  not  in- 
creased in  membership,  the  establishment  of 
six  Home  Libraries  has  added  to  the  num- 
ber of  those  using  our  books.  A  little  book- 
case containing  twenty  or  thirty  books,  to- 
gether with  a  few  games,  is  put  in  the  room 
of  a  tenement-house  for  the  use  of  its  ten- 
ants and  of  those  in  the  near  neighborhood. 
The  Home  Libraries  are  opened  one  after- 
noon of  the  week.  In  this  way  the  influ- 
ence of  the  library  has  extended  into  places 
where  otherwise  it  would  not  have  gone. 
An  adjunct  to  the  Library  is  the  Circulating 
Game  Closet,  from  which  games  are  taken 
home  by  the  children  for  a  week  at  a  time. 
On  Sunday  afternoons  the  "Good  Seeds" 
meet.  They  are  the  little  children,  Jewish 
and  Christian,  who  crowd  eagerly  into  the 
house  at  half-past  two  to  sing  and  to  listen 
to  a  story. 


B9 


There  is  a  Wood-carving  Class  and  a  Lit- 
tle House-keepers'  Class,  composed  respect- 
ively of  twelve  little  boys  and  twelve  little 
girls  each. 

The  Society  has  a  Summer  House  at  Kato- 
nah,  open  for  ten  weeks,  from  early  July  un- 
til the  middle  of  September ;  and  small  par- 
ties of  young  children  are  taken  there  to 
spend  Sundays  in  other  seasons  than  sum- 
mer. One  hundred  and  seven  of  those  guests 
were  received  during  the  past  year,  in  par- 
ties of  ten,  for  a  fortnight's  visit — an  expe- 
rience rich  in  active  pleasure  and  innocent 
fun,  in  gaiu  from  fresh  air,  sunshine,  and 
wholesome  food.  Those  who  are  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  help  in  this  work  are  not  least  re- 
freshed and  strengthened.  The  gaiu  in  love 
and  friendship  is  reciprocal,  and  these  warm- 
hearted guests  give  kindness  for  kindness, 
thought  for  thought,  and  love  for  love.  This 
personal  contact  equips  the  workers  with 
certain  individual  facts  and  general  truths 
regarding  the  character  and  lives  of  the 
young  friends  of  the  College  Settlement 
that  are  most  useful  guides  in  the  work  in 
Eivingtou  Street. 

There  has  been  in  the  minds  of  many  a 
serious  question  whether  the  life  would  not 
prove  unwholesome  for  the  workers  who  en- 


33 


tered  it.  Experience  has  proved  the  "  col- 
ony" plan  to  be  a  reasonable  and  natural 
life.  The  family  life  of  educated  women 
AV  ith  congenial  tastes,  common  interests,  and 
independent  convictions,  is  a  relaxation  in 
itself.  The  residents  leave  the  place  with 
reluctance  and  are  eager  to  return  to  it. 
The  physical  conditions  are  not  as  hard  as 
it  was  expected  that  they  would  be,  and 
every  resident  can  regulate  her  own  amount 
of  work. 

The  question  is  often  asked  how  far  the 
College  Settlement  is  a  religious  work.  It 
Avas  hoped  in  the  beginning  that  the  work 
would  be  one  in  which  people  of  varying 
convictions  might  labor  together  harmoni- 
ously. This  hope  has  been  fulfilled.  As 
the  Settlement  is  in  the  midst  of  a  popula- 
tion of  German  Jews,  any  definite  religious 
work  in  the  house  would  destroy  much  of 
the  influence  gained.  What  are  the  results  ? 
The  residents  are  recognized  as  the  friends 
of  those  about  them ;  the  children  turn  to 
them  Avith  the  joy  of  every  acquisition  and 
the  grief  of  every  loss.  The  club  boys  of 
sixteen  and  seventeen  years  are  proud  of 
their  connection  with  the  house  and  eager 
rivals  in  its  good  opinion.  The  work  is  a 
process  of  education  ;  the  object  sought  is 
a 


N 


helpful,  personal  contact.  It  is  the  method 
of  friendship,  a  relation  which  implies  giv- 
ing and  taking  on  both  aides;  and  the  work- 
ers at  the  Settlement  find  one  of  the  strong- 
est points  giiined  by  residence  to  be  that 
their  neighbors  have  a  chance  to  do  some- 
thing for  them — a  chance  which  is  often  im- 
proved. Thus  the  Settlement  has  become 
one  of  the  quickening  influences  which  go 
to  form  the  lives  of  the  people -iu  Rivington 
Street.  Upon  this  homely  basis  of  friend- 
ship the  work  is  built,  resting  upon  firm  be- 
lief in  the  oneness  of  human  nature,  and 
that  God's  best  is  the  inheritance  of  all  his 
sons  on  earth. 


TENEMENT    NEIGHBORHOOD    IDEA- 
UNIVERSITY  SETTLEMENT. 

(Second  Paper. ) 
BY  HELEN   MOOUE. 

IN  the  summer  of  1886  Dr.  Stanton  Coit, 
then  assistant  lecturer  under  Prof.  Felix 
Adler  to  the  New  York  Society  of  Ethical 
Culture,  went  to  live  in  the  tenement-house 
at  146  Forsyth  Street.  His  acquaintance 
•with  the  hoys  of  the  neighborhood  began 
through  the  happy  medium  of  day  outings, 
spent  on  the  charming  shores  of  Staten 
Island.  Afterwards  he  invited  them  to  his 
rooms,  where  he  entertained  them  with 
reading  and  games.  Discovering  that  :v 
number  of  hoys,  calling  themselves  the 
Lily  Pleasure  Club,  were  accustomed  to 
meet  in  the  gloomy  quarters  of  an  old 
blind  woman,  he  offered  them  the  use  of 
his  apartment.  They  accepted,  and  brought 
their  club  properties — chiefly  spittoons. 

In  February,  1887,  the  club  was  reorgaii- 


M 


ized,  a  constitution  adopted,  and  a  now  name, 
the  O.  I.  F.,  taken  from  their  motto  :  "Order 
is  onr  Basis,  Independence  our  Aim,  Friend- 
ship our  Principle."  This  was  practically 
the  beginning  of  the  Neighborhood  Guild, 
and  around  this  nucleus  other  clubs  soon 
gathered.  The  O.  I.  F.  meet  two  evenings 
a  week  ;  a  kindergarten  was  established, 
and  a  club  of  young  women  was  formed, 
composed  of  the  friends  and  sisters  of  the 
O.  I.  F.  boys.  Most  of  these  girls  worked 
in  factories,  and  their  idea  of  the  Romance 
of  life  found  expression  in  the  name  they 
took  for  their  club,  The  Lady  Belvedere. 
Other  examples  are  :  The  Lady  Aroma  Club, 
the  Rosebud,  the  Four  Hundred  Social, 
whose  members  gratify  their  dearest  am- 
bition by  giving  a  ball  in  winter  and  in 
summer  a  chowder-party. 

This  section,  a  block  of  Forsyth  Street 
between  Rivington  and  Delancey,  though 
it  contains  in  its  tall  tenements  two  thou- 
sand human  beings,  is  not  the  most  densely- 
populated  part  of  the  Tenth  Ward.  Yet 
here  is  never  a  blade  of  grass;  the  road  way 
and  sidewalk  are  the  playground;  the  only 
perfume  familiar  to  the  children's  nostrils 
not  pink  apple-blossoms,  clover,  and  redden- 
ing jnioy  fruit,  but  the  fermenting  garbage 


in  the  gutter  and  tire  smell  of  stale  beer 
from  the  nine  saloons  in  the  block.  The 
only  country  sport  they  know  is  kite-flying, 
but  their  run  is  on  the  roof  of  one  of  the 
tall  tenements. 

The  residents  of  this  ward  are  chiefly  Ger- 
mans, Poles,  Russian  Jews,  and  Bohemians. 
Where  they  lead,  the  sweat-shops  follow,  and 
scores  of  men,  women,  and  children  sew  all 
day  in  rooms  that  are  the  only  living-room, 
bedroom,  and  kitchen  for  a  large  family.  A 
walk  through  the  street  during  any  day  of 
summer's  fierce  heat  discloses  a  long  pano- 
rama of  heart-rending  sights.  Every  win- 
dow opens  into  a  room  crowded  with  scant- 
ily -  clothed,  dull  -  faced  men  and  women 
sewing  upon  heavy  woollen  coats  and  trou- 
sers. They  pant  for  air,  the  perspiration 
that  drops  from  their  foreheads  is  like  life- 
blood,  but  they  toil  on  steadily,  wearily,  ex- 
cept when  now  and  again  one,  crazed  by 
heat,  hangs  himself  to  a  door -jamb,  or 
jumps  from  a  top -story  window.  It  is 
called  by  the  police  the  "  Suicide  Ward." 
The  violent  excitement  furnished  by  dance- 
halls  and  gambling-dens  does  not  counter- 
act the  temporary  frenzy  produced  by  hot 
weather  and  over-long  hours  of  work.  From 
a  political,  sanitary,  and  educational  point 


of  view  it  is  the  worst  ward  in  the  city,  and 
social  statistics  offer  uo  parallel  in  any  city, 
It  is  twice  as  crowded  as  the  densest  part 
of  London,  our  census  of  1890  showing  522 
human  beings  to  the  acre,  and  to  the  ward 
57,514.  The  people,  ignorant  of  the  form  of 
our  government  and  of  the  obligations  of 
franchise,  alienated  by  our  unknown  lan- 
guage, distrustful  of  the  motives  and  meas- 
ures of  up-town  men  who  have  never  by 
personal  acquaintance  gained  their  personal 
confidence,  give  unquestioning  allegiance 
to  a  few  prominent,  ambitions  men  adroit 
enough  to  appreciate  and  to  secure  their 
fealty.  A  striking  example  is  "  Silver  Dol- 
lar "  Charles  Smith,  so  -  called  from  silver 
dollars  inlaid  in  the  floor  of  his  saloon,  who 
has  become  a  local  potentate  by  many  acts 
of  kindness,  gifts  of  money,  and  coals,  and 
asks  from  hia  beneficiary  subjects  in  return 
only  their  votes.  Of  course  municipal 
prominence  becomes  synonymous  with  bri- 
bery, corruption,  and  irresponsibility,  and 
its  second  name  is  the  Crooked  Ward.  It 
answers  to  still  another,  the  Typhus  Ward. 
Filth  stalks  through  the  streets,  and  armies 
of  vermin  and  pestiferous  insects  live,  move, 
and  have  shelter  and  feeding -ground  in- 
doors and  out.  The  precociously-intelligent 


Semitic  children  go  to  school,  when  not 
crowded  out  by  lack  of  room,  until  the  age 
of  twelve  or  thirteen  years.  Then,  in  spite 
of  the  law  that  forbids  employment  of  chil- 
dren under  sixteen  in  factories,  they  take 
their  places  there  as  wrage-earners. 

The  people  are  gregarious,  but  not  social. 
The  race-prejudice  between  Jew  and  Gen- 
tile is  strong.  These  were  the  elements 
with  which  the  Guild  found  itself  confront- 
ed ;  forces  and  antagonisms  to  utilize  and 
harmonize ;  conditions  of  life  to  improve. 
Based  on  the  Family  idea  as  the  fundament- 
al unit  of  society,  the  ideal  of  the  Guild  is 
to  unite  neighbors  as  members  of  a  family 
are  united,  irrespective  of  race,  religion,  or 
occupation,  in  bonds  of  mutual  service,  tow- 
ards a  common  end  of  mutual  improvement. 
This  idea  differs  from  that  of  Toynbee 
Hall  and  other  University  Settlements  in 
that  improvement  was  to  be  effected  by 
"  educating  a  body  of  trained  workers 
taken  from  the  poor  themselves,"  learners  be- 
coming in  turn  teachers  and  guides.  Up- 
town aid  of  money  and  workers  is  tempo- 
rarily essential,  and  the  benefit  of  intercourse 
is  held  to  be  both  cardinal  and  mutual.  A 
small  fee  is  charged  to  the  wee  kinder- 
garten pupil  who  receives  at  noon  her  cup 


of  milk,  as  to  tlio  lad  who  swings  the  clubs 
in  tbe  gymnasium.  If  house  -  repairs  are 
needed  the  club-members  have  made  them, 
and  they  taxed  themselves  to  provide  a 
street-cleaning  fund.  Whatever  benefit  was 
received  was  repaid  in  work  or  money. 

The  breadth  and  originality  of  these  prin- 
ciples attracted  to  this  social  experiment  a 
very  strong  set  of  men  intent  to  work 
heartily  together,  unmindful  of  creed  or 
social  differences.  It  formed  a  veritable 
station  where  any  one  who  had  a  social 
theory  to  prove,  who  wished  to  test  the 
sincerity  of  his  humanitarianism,  or  who 
kicked  against  the  pricks  in  other  fields  of 
work  was  welcome.  Men  came  for  various 
motives,  and  left  for  reasons  as  diverse. 
Five  college  graduates  joined  Dr.  Coit,  and 
became  residents  of  the  Guild-house.  The 
work  grew,  and  soon  required  more  and 
larger  rooms.  New  clubs  for  little  boys 
and  girls  were  formed,  a  gymnasium  outfit 
and  books  were  added,  and  more  workers 
from  up  -  town,  volunteered.  An  attempt 
\v:is  made  to  enlist  the  participation  and 
interest  of  the  older  men  in  the  neighbor- 
hood and  the  mothers.  In  the  belief  that 
meeting  for  intelligent  and  friendly  discus- 
sion of  social  economic  conditions  should  be 


41 


mutually  helpful  and  enlightening,  a  Social 
Science  Club  was  inaugurated.  Represent- 
ative thinkers,  men  of  all  callings,  all  con- 
ditions and  races  were  invited  to  address 
its  meetings,  and  men  of  all  trades,  expe- 
riences, and  views  invited  to  discuss  and 
reply.  It  was  hoped  that  thus  theorist  and 
student,  brought  face  to  face  with  the  head 
of  a  trade's  union,  should  learn  what  were 
actually  the  Problems  of  the  Labor  Ques- 
tion ;  the  anarchist  should  perceive  the  values 
that  lie  in  conservatism,  the  professor  of 
dead  languages  listen  to  their  strange  liv- 
ing offshoots  voicing  living  human  ques- 
tions. This  interest  was  wide  and  earnest 
for  a  while.  Papers  were  written  upon 
such  topics  as  "  The  History  and  Nature  of 
Trusts,"  "  Anarchism,"  "  Wages  as  Affected 
by  the  Eight-hour  System,"  and  "  Strikes." 
Too  often  the  up-towu  author  of  a  thought- 
fully prepared  paper  had  not  prepared  him- 
self nor  allowed  time  for  subsequent  attack 
and  question,  and  such  seeming  unfairness 
and  lack  of  sympathy  quickly  alienated  the 
down-town  man  who  had  prepared  for  and 
expected  fair  play  and  hearing  of  his  side. 
The  failure  of  an  experiment  which  prom- 
ised great  gains  in  knowledge  of  facts,  of 
conditions,  and  of  sentiments,  and  which 


should  have  made  for  the  destruction  of 
formulism  on  the  one  side  and  distrust  upon 
the  other,  was  likewise  an  injury  to  the 
humanitarian  and  social  work  in  Forsyth 
Street.  Still  the  Guild  -  house  served  as 
meeting-place  for  the  people,  who  came  for 
information  or  for  recreation ;  and  those 
who  work  there  design  it  to  he  the  Town 
Hall  of  the  district,  where  every  laudable 
local  purpose  shall  find  encouragement  and 
home. 

The  clubs  are  taught  self-government, 
and  they  choose  their  own  subjects  of  in- 
struction. Cooking  and  sewing  classes  are 
open  to  the  girls,  but  the  latter  occupation 
is  never  popular  with  those  whose  fingers 
have  been  busy  all  day  in  the  factory. 
Cooking  presents  social  as  well  as  economic 
attraction ;  the  dishes  made  in  class  are 
taken  to  the  club-meeting,  thus  saving  ex- 
pense and  adding  to  their  resources  of  at- 
traction. For  the  masculine  instinct  which 
scents  luncheon  from  afar  has  discovered 
the  custom  and  hit  upon  a  happy  combina- 
tion of  gallantry  with  profit,  and  the  cuke- 
bearing  girls  are  sure  of  devoted  escorts. 

The  ignorance  of  the  poor  in  regard  to 
simple  cookery,  even,  is  as  pathetic  as  it  is 
proverbial.  A-  girl's  astonishment  when 


she  saw  the  beaten  white  of  an  egg  and 
found  it  was  not  ice-cream,  and  the  agita- 
tion of  a  tenement-houseful  of  people  who 
tilled  the  sick  woman's  room  to  see  the  vis- 
itor make  a  bit  of  toast  ("to  see  the  lady 
roast  bread,"  was  their  description),  are 
examples  of  their  inexperience. 

It  is  inevitable  from  the  experimental  nat- 
ure of  the  work  that  there  should  be  fluctu- 
ations. Volunteers  came  and  went,  and  the 
membership,  too,  changed.  People  moved 
away  from  the  neighborhood.  Youths  with- 
drew from  the  clubs.  Some  could  not  stand 
the  test  of  a  sober  purpose  in  life,  others 
tired  of  it  when  no  longer  a  novelty.  At 
one  time  the  kindergarten  of  fifty  children 
contained  but  three  who  had  been  in  it  the 
year  before.  These  things  have  affected  the 
character  of  the  Guild,  have  lessened  its  in- 
fluence with  its  neighbors.  But  through 
many  vicissitudes  it  has  struggled  valiantly, 
and  we  think  will  nobly  justify  its  exist- 
ence and  its  cost.  It  appears  not  as  the 
outcome  of  one  mind  or  the  development 
of  a  single,  unvarying  idea.  It  is  instead  a 
congeries  of  experiments  expressing  the  in- 
dividuality or  the  idiosyncrasies  even  of 
successive  directors  and  workers.  It  has 
been  a  powerful  instrument  of  reform  in 


44 


tlio  neighborhood.  Umlrr  the  direction  of 
Mr.  G'harlcs  Stover,  a  leader  of  fearless  and 
uncompromising  disposition,  it  called  the 
attention  of  the  authorities  to  gambling 
places  in  the  vicinity,  to  tenements  out  of 
repair,  to  streets  in  filthy  condition.  It 
had  debated  on  politics;  the  members  of 
the  O.  I.  F.  Club  joined  the  People's  Munic- 
ipal League,  and  worked  with  great  intel- 
ligence at  the  polls.  It  issued  a  newspaper 
once  a  month,  which  voiced  in  impassioned 
and  intrepid  language  its  editor's  hatred 
of  wrong,  hypocrisy,  and  fraud.  The  East 
Side  Art  League  was  formed,  and  succeeded 
iu  opening  the  Museum  on  Sunday.  The 
petitions  distributed  and  the  work  done  in 
this  cause  show  what  an  immense  influ- 
ence for  reform  may  be  exerted  by  a  few 
earnest  workers.  Many  times  the  Guild 
was  near  financial  ruin,  but  indomitable 
energy  saved  it.  The  principle  of  up-towii 
help  as  a  temporary  crutch  was  inculcated 
with  all  the  strength  of  a  conviction  which 
afterwards  made  Mr.  Stover  leave  the  Guild 
when  he  thought  the  integrity  of  the  prin- 
ciple was  violated.  One  result  of  devotion 
to  the  virtue  of  honest  poverty  and  sturdy 
independence  was  an  outward  unloveliness 
which  made  the  rooms  a  mere  social  work- 


shop,  forbidding  in  their  lack  of  homelike 
comforts  ami  beauty.  There  were  no  car- 
pets ou  the  coarse  and  undulating  floors, 
no  curtains  at  the  windows,  the  window- 
shades  were  broken  and  stained,  the  gas- 
jets  lacked  globes.  A  piano,  a  case  of 
books,  some  Roman  photographs,  and  a 
Turkish  hanging  given  by  a  generous 
friend,  did  but  little  to  lessen  the  bareness 
and  ugliness  of  the  place.  It  seemed  as  if 
that  subtle  educator,  Beauty,  had  been  ut- 
terly defied,  though,  later,  the  ear  and  the 
mind  have  received  education  in  Harmony 
at  the  People's  Singing  Class,  conducted  by 
Mr.  Frank  Damrosch,  on  Sunday  afternoons. 
If  it  be  conceded  that  the  history  of  the 
Neighborhood  Guild  presents  chiefly  a  series 
of  experiments  colored  by  the  idiosyncrasies 
of  individual  workers,  yet  that  does  not 
lessen  the  value  of  the  work.  The  condi- 
tion of  the  Poor  in  great  cities  is  intoler- 
able, grows  worse,  and  is  not  borne  so  hum- 
bly or  supinely  as  heretofore;  crime  is 
increasing,  and  is  more  menacing  and  pow- 
erful by  reason  of  combination.  Mutual  un- 
derstanding of  the  classes,  and  mutual  re- 
spect, are  become  the  conditions  on  which 
depend  the  continuance  of  civilization  and 
the  permanency  of  States.  How  to  raise 


the  depressed,  how  to  comfort  those  whom 
society  hurts  and  cripples,  how  to  enable 
men  and  women  to  be  clean,  healthy,  strong, 
and  right-minded  is  a  more  pressing  ques- 
tion and  involves  graver  responsibility  than 
ho\v  to  doctor  the  sick  and  restore  the  iu- 
sane.  The  Brotherhood  of  Man  as  a  funda- 
mental working  axiom  has  still  to  be  de- 
monstrated, and  in  its  progressive,  perhaps 
endless  stages  of  development  no  idiosyn- 
crasy may  bo  forcibly  suppressed,  any  more 
than  conscience  or  "common -sense,"  until 
tried  and  found  wanting. 

There  are,  however,  concrete  results  with 
the  children  in  the  Guild  neighborhood. 
Not  only  has  the  reading-habit  been  formed, 
not  only  do  they  like  good  literature,  but 
each  month  sees  improvement  in  courtesy 
and  consideration,  and  the  boy  who  last 
year  broke  the  windows  is  not  unlikely 
next  year  to  be  a  gentle  assistant.  Pas- 
sionately fond  of  American  history  and 
biography,  for  which  they  get  a  taste  in 
school,  these  little  foreigners  are  laying  a 
basis  for  good  citizenship  and  patriotism 
•with  every  book  they  read.  One  day  a 
little  ten -year  old  girl  ran  breathlessly 
across  the  room  hugging  in  her  arms  a 
book.  "Oh!  do  yon  think  I  can  take  this 


home  ?  I  have  almost  read  it  through 
standing  in  front  of  the  case  there."  Ifc 
was  Charles  and  Mary  Lamb's  Tales  from 
Shakespeare.  The  favorite  books  are  Fairy 
Tales,  stories  of  Heroes,  and  narratives  of 
pioneer  life 

The  Tenth  Ward  Social  Reform  Clnb  re- 
mains to  be  noticed.  It  has  an  immense 
programme  of  reform  which  includes  the 
public  agitation  and  legal  steps  necessary 
to  procure  small  parks,  public  baths,  laun- 
dries, kitchens,  co-operative  stores,  sanita- 
tion, and  sweat-shops  investigation.  As  far 
as  possible  the  labor  connected  with  these 
projects  is  performed  by  those  who  will  be 
benefited  by  their  achievement.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  O.  I.  F.  are  doing  yeoman's  ser- 
vice, and  show  the  training  of  their  five 
years  of  working  for  others.  If  this  pro- 
gramme is  carried  out,  it  means  bringing 
into  the  Tenth  Ward,  against  ignorance  and 
corruption,  every  agency  known  to  man.  It 
is  a  sincere  attempt  of  a  body  of  earnest 
men  to  accept  the  obligation  of  the  cynic's 
sneering  question :  "Am  I  my  Brother's 
Keeper?"  and  to  reply  in  the  spirit  of  the 
new  life  which  the  influence  of  Arnold 
Toy  11  bee's  brief  stay  on  earth  has  awakened 
throughout  the  English-speaking  world. 


TENEMENT    NEIGHBORHOOD    IDEA- 
MEDICAL  WOMEN  IN  TENEMENTS. 

(Third  Paper.) 
BY  DR.  MARY  B.  DAMON. 

IN  whatever  part  of  a  large  city  a  doctor 
establish  herself,  the  calls  upon  her  "  love 
for  humanity"  are  sure  to  be  numerous,  and 
opportunities  for  devoting  time  and  strength 
to  helping  others  will  be  only  too  apt  to  ex- 
ceed her  ability  to  make  use  of  them.  Nev- 
ertheless she  may  count  it  good-fortune  to 
spend  a  year  or  two  of  her  professional  life 
among  the  crowded  tenements  of  New  York, 
or  of  any  large  city.  For  it  is  worth  much 
to  know  life  "in  the  mass,"  and  to  have 
learned  to  look  at  the  conditions  of  the  poor 
through  their  own  eyes.  In  spite  of  weari- 
ness and  discouragement,  and  of  tlie  appa- 
rent helplessness  of  individual  eifort  to  make 
an  impression  on  conditions  which  have  hem 
the  growth  of  years,  one  learns  admiration 
for  mankind,  belief  in  human  virtue,  faith 


iu  the  final  triumph  of  the  blind  and  seem- 
ingly ineffectual  struggle  upward,  which 
cannot  be  shaken  by  any  array  of  statistics 
or  by  any  temporary  failure.  And  this  is 
knowledge  which  does  not  come  from  seeing 
people  in  institutions,  but  by  knowing  them 
where  they  were  born  to  be — iu  their  own 
homes. 

It  is  so  easy  to  tabulate  defects  and  fail- 
ures which  are  definite  and  clear,  so  difficult 
to  count  success  which  at  a  given  moment 
may  be  but  partial ;  it  is  so  much  more  start- 
ling and  impressive  to  tell  a  story  of  special 
distress  or  hopeless  stupidity  or  of  wicked- 
ness than  to  speak  of  ordinary  intelligence 
and  virtue,  that  we  are  all  likely  to  paint  a 
blacker  picture  for  others  than  the  one  we 
see  ourselves.  One  talks  and  bewails  in  the 
evening's  weariness,  but  iu  the  morning's 
freshness  and  courage  is  too  busy  to  waste 
time  in  speech. 

The  fourteen  hundred  and  seventy  people 
•who  are  crowded  together  in  a  small  square 
of  a  great  city  will  show  among  themselves 
the  same  relative  differences  which  are  found 
in  the  same  number  of  people  in  a  country 
town.  There  will  be  the  thrifty  and  well- 
to-do  as  well  as  the  improvident ;  the  skilled 
workman  as  well  as  the  dullest  of  day-labor- 

4 


50 


ers ;  the  good  house-keeper  and  the  slattern  ; 
the  woman  who  lias  given  up  in  despair  un- 
der the  heavy  burdens  of  life,  and  the  one 
who,  while  doing  the  whole  work  for  a  large 
family,  still  does  not  hesitate  to  be  janitresa 
of  the  tenement,  and  to  take  in  washing 
from  outside.  As  in  a  country  town,  people 
of  the  same  social  standing  live  near  each 
other,  so  the  thrifty  and  clean  naturally 
gravitate  into  the  same  tenement,  leaving 
the  thriftless  and  dirty  to  enjoy  life  as  they 
choose.  Yet  one  may  find  a  single  clean  fam- 
ily in  the  midst  of  very  dirty  surroundings. 

To  be  in  any  position  where  one  sees  only 
the  poorest  and  most  improvident  is  to  gain 
an  unjust  idea  of  the  average.  Naturally, 
dirt  and  poverty  are  associated,  for  personal 
cleanliness  requires  space  and  privacy  as 
well  as  water,  and  to  secure  clean  clothes 
one  must  have  at  least  two  garments  of  a 
kind  ;  but  many  of  the  poor  are  scrupulously 
neat,  and  the  tenement-house  living-room, 
which  of  necessity  is  full  of  disorder  ou 
washing-day,  may  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances be  home-like  and  clean. 

The  doctor  who  really  lives  among  tho 
people  has  ample  opportunity  to  see  them 
all,  and  needs  tho  same  training  for  her 
work  here  that  she  would  need  anywhere — 


the  best  professional  skill  she  can  by  every 
effort  acquire,  a  self-respect  ami  confidence 
which  she  can  impart  to  others,  and  the 
habit  of  meetiug  people  courteously  and 
sympathetically  The  doctor  enters  the  fam- 
ily on  terms  of  intimacy  granted  to  no  oth- 
er stranger,  aud  the  frankness  required  in 
describing  the  physical  pain  easily  extends 
to  the  social  aud  moral  relation.  Only  a 
word  is  necessary,  and  often  before  either 
doctor  or  patient  is  aware  the  whole  picture 
of  family  life  has  been  disclosed,  showing 
unexpected  heights  of  fineness  or  courage, 
or  indescribable  suffering  and  bitterness. 
Or,  possibly,  it  is  the  fine  silence  which  re- 
veals more  than  any  words.  Such  was  the 
silence  of  the  old  German  woman  who  came 
to  the  Dispensary  suffering  from  cancer,  for 
which  operation  was  useless.  The  daughter 
asked  that  she  be  told,  and  it  wras  done  as 
gently  as  possible.  Not  a  word,  no  move- 
ment nor  moan  came  from  the  woman,  bnt 
the  doctor  knew  that  the  English  of  forty 
years  was  an  unknown  tongue  now,  and 
blundered  on  in  German  words  which  were 
not  understood,  nor  meant  to  be,  but  which 
somehow  built  a  bridge  between  the  isola- 
tion of  despair  aud  the  companionship  of 
common  life. 


In  any  severe  or  long  case  of  illness,  the 
•whole  tenement-house,  often  a  lively  com- 
munity of  twenty  families,  takes  an  interest. 
The  neighbor  comes  in  to  interpret  for  the 
doctor,  sometimes  to  advise  her  as  to  diag- 
nosis and  remedies,  for  which  friendliness 
the  doctor  is  as  grateful  as  the  ordinary  re- 
cipient of  such  charity,  lint  in  spite  of  the 
reverse  side  of  gossip  and  horror-inongering, 
generosity  and  friendliness  are  commonly 
the  feelings  of  the  neighbors  towards  those 
who  are  ill.  They  will  go  to  the  Dispen- 
sary for  medicine,  or  to  the  Diet-kitchen  for 
milk,  if  there  is  no  one  in  the  family  to  do 
so,  or  assist  the  child,  who  may  be  the  only 
nurse,  in  giving  the  medicine ;  and  I  have 
known  the  "  lady  down-stairs"  to  send  up 
regularly  part  of  her  own  meals  to  the  fam- 
ily whose  mother  was  ill  and  father  out  of 
work. 

The  devotion  of  the  family  to  the  sick 
member  is  often  touching.  If  the  mother 
is  ill,  the  husband  and  sons  who  are  at  work 
all  day  divide  the  night  between  them,  that 
medicine  and  food  may  be  regularly  given; 
or  perhaps  it  is  a  boy  of  twelve  who  is  the 
faithful  nurse,  because  the  father  is  a  care- 
less drunkard.  I  have  known  a  boy  of  four- 
teen to  do  all  the  washing  of  the  family.  If 


63 


there  is  a  daughter  of  any  size  all  these  du- 
ties naturally  fall  to  her,  and  she  stands 
faithfully  to  her  responsibilities. 

If  the  baby  is  sick  the  older  children  are 
quiet,  attentive,  and  loving  in  their  awk- 
ward way,  and  the  overburdened  mother, 
untrained  and  often  utterly  without  appli- 
ances, is  yet,  to  the  extent  of  her  ability,  a 
devoted  nurse.  The  assistance  of  a  trained 
nurse  will  be  refused  because  the  mother 
prefers  to  care  for  the  sick  one,  and  invari- 
ably the  child  is  on  her  side.  In  one  case 
the  mother  was  a  woman  neat  and  energetic, 
but  worn  out  by  watching  and  the  work  of 
the  household,  as  well  as  wholy  untrained. 
Yet  the  child  turned  from  gentleness,  firm- 
ness, and  skill  to  say  in  tones  which  were 
sufficient  reward  for  any  weariness:  "Bleib 
hier,  Mutter  "  (stay  here,  mother).  For  there 
is  something  iu  personal  love  which  the  help- 
less value  more  than  science  or  training. 
And  this  is  the  reason  why  patients  prefer 
the  dark  bedroom  of  a  tenement  to  the  clean- 
liness and  light  of  a  hospital.  They  dread 
exceedingly  dying  or  having  their  friends 
die  in  the  hospital.  A  child  of  ten  stood  be- 
fore me  one  evening  and  told  me  about  her 
father.  He  had  beeu  taken  to  a  hospital, 
and  had  learned  that  an  operation  would  be 


N 


useless.  "My  mother  went  to  see  him,  and 
he  said,  'Dear  wife,  if  you  love  mo  take  mo 
home  that  I  may  die  by  my  children,'  and 
she  brought  him  home,  and  that  night  when 
he  came  home  I  kissed  him  and  gave  him 
water  every  minute  when  he  wanted  it,  and 
I  was  so  glad  he  came  home."  "  How  many 
rooms  do  you  live  in  ?"  I  asked.  "  Two,"  she 
said.  The  odor  of  garlic  which  came  dis- 
tinctly to  me,  the  half-clean  dress  and  face 
of  the  child  brought  up  a  familiar  picture 
of  darkness,  disorder,  and  noise,  in  strong 
contrast  to  the  trim  nurse  and  the  cheerful 
ward  of  the  hospital.  Yet  I  think  the  father 
chose  as  most  nieu  would  choose. 

But  worse  than  the  fear  of  dying  away 
from  friends  is  the  appalling  vision  of  the 
trenches  in  Potter's  Field,  when  there  is  no 
money  for  funeral  expenses.  For  this  rea- 
son, insurance  of  children,  as  well  as  of  adults 
is  very  common  iii  New  York  ;  and  whatever 
may  be  true  of  London,  I  have  never  known 
it  to  lead  to  abuse  or  neglect  of  the  children 
here,  and  often  it  is  a  great  blessing. 

One  is  sometimes  pleased  with  the  intelli- 
gence and  good  sense  with  which  careful 
directions  are  received,  especially  when  the 
reasons  are  explained,  and  the  exactitude 
with  which  they  are  carried  out.  It  helps 


one  to  believe  that  general  teaching  in  re- 
gard to  simple  facts  of  hygiene  would  be  of 
great  value,  and  would  in  the  end  accom- 
plish ranch  good.  I  can  never  ask  to  have 
directions  more  faithfully  and  exactly  car- 
ried out  by  the  best  trained  nurse  than  was 
done  in  the  tenement  where  eight  people 
lived  in  two  rooms.  The  father  had  been 
ill  and  out  of  work  for  weeks,  the  mother 
had  the  care  of  a  two  weeks'  old  baby  as 
well  as  of  the  sick  child,  yet  night  and  day 
every  direction  was  exactly  followed. 

Certainly  it  ia  dreadful  that  diphtheria 
with  measles  should  be  cared  for  under  such 
circumstances,  and  appalling  to  think  of  the 
danger,  of  contagion  to  the  twenty  other  fam- 
ilies in  the  house,  and  of  the  impossibility 
of  giving  the  proper  treatment  under  such 
disabilities.  There  is  no  doubt  that  diph- 
theria and  scarlet-fever  ought  to  be  forced 
into  hospitals,  as  well  as  typhus  and  small- 
pox. For  if,  as  often  happens,  garments  are 
being  manufactured  in  the  same  rooms  with 
the  sick,  the  menace  to  public  health  from 
these  diseases  is  greater  than  that  from  chol- 
era. The  Board  of  Health  officer  can  stop 
this  work  only  by  standing  guard  day  and 
night,  for  no  work  means  no  food  and  no 
home  to  the  family. 


When  one  recalls  the  riots  against  pest- 
houses  which  have  occurred  in  country 
towns,  and  pictures  the  result  of  proposing 
to  send  the  sick  children  of  the  rich  to  con- 
tagious hospitals,  it  does  not  seein  strange 
that  the  dwellers  in  tenement-houses  should 
invariably  refuse  to  sacrifice  sentiment  to 
judgment,  and  their  loved  ones  to  the  com- 
munity. In  such  cases  the  common  good 
must  be  secured  by  force. 

The  doctor  runs  no  risk  of  personal  dan- 
ger in  New  York  City.  Whether  she  works 
among  Germans,  Jews,  Italians,  or  Irish,  she 
need  fear  neither  roar  house  nor  dark  alley, 
nor  hesitate  to  answer  a  call  to  a  tenement 
at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night.  Perfumed 
water  is  prepared  for  her  hands,  and  all  the 
courtesies  of  speech  bestowed  upon  her.  One 
does  not  quickly  forget  the  old  woman's 
farewell,  "  God  bless  you,  and  spare  you  to 
mother."  The  gratitude  shown  by  patients 
is  usually  great  though  unconventionally 
expressed.  One  of  the  most  grateful  of 
mothers  expressed  hers  by  the  deprecatory 
words  repeated  over  and  over  again,  "It's 
too  much  trouble."  Sometimes  it  is  the  doc- 
tor who  is  ungrateful  for  intended  but  ill- 
advised  considerateness  which  adds  too  fully 
to  her  anxiety  aud  care.  A  hasty  call  caiuo 


iii  the  early  morning  to  a  lying-in  case.  In 
the  so-called  furnished  room  was  nothing 
but  the  absolutely  essential — not  a  sheet  nor 
towel,  not  a  clean  rag  nor  a  piece  of  news- 
paper, no  basin  nor  bowl,  no  drop  of  warm 
water  nor  receptacle  in  which  to  heat  it; 
and,  most  remarkable  of  all,  not  a  friendly 
neighbor  among  the  twenty  families  to  aid 
in  this  emergency.  A  single  tumbler  suf- 
ficed to  wash  the  patient  and  the  doctor's 
hands,  to  give  milk  and  medicine.  Mother 
and  child  lay  together  helpless  on  the  floor. 
But  the  man,  kneeling  down,  murmured  low 
a  word  of  remorse  and  love,  kissed  his  wife, 
and  was  forgiven;  for  the  finer  feelings  do 
survive  poverty,  improvidence,  and  wrong. 
It  was  long  before  the  doctor  appreciated 
that  such  extremity  was  reached  through 
unwillingness  to  disturb  her  night's  rest. 

I  like  to  have  the  housewife  who,  I  know, 
has  not  a  penny,  say  boldly  at  the  end  of 
the  first  visit,  "  What  do  I  owe  you,  doctor  ?" 
It  gives  me  a  chance  to  make  my  gift  of 
service  gracious,  and  puts  both  on  a  level, 
where  we  can  look  each  other  in  the  face.  It 
is  the  spirit  which  is  of  value,  and  a  simple 
"Thank  you,  doctor,"  with  the  right  inflec- 
tiou,  can  be  the  sweetest  word*  of  all  the 
languages;  or,  "You  have  done  everything, 


doctor,"  may  be  for  both  a  consolation  even 
in  the  bitterness  of  death. 

But  it  would  be  unfair  to  ignore  the  other 
side  of  the  picture.  One  finds  not  only  the 
self-respecting,  intelligent,  and  grateful  poor, 
but  also  the  ignorant,  careless,  and  lazy. 
Medicine  and  advice  are  of  small  account  in 
the  rear  house  which  has  tilthy  closets  in 
front  and  a  pile  of  decaying  garbage  behind. 
Nothing  but  the  Sanitary  Police  cau  inako 
so  much  as  a  momentary  impression  there. 
It  was  the  starting-place  of  the  Typhus  Epi- 
demic in  1881,  and  is  waiting  for  such  a  guest 
again.  One  may  often  doubt  whether  land- 
lord, tenant,  or  careless  house-keeper  is  most 
to  blame  for  wretched  conditions.  No  house 
cau  be  well  kept  without  the  co-operation  of 
all  three.  The  shiftless  man  who  has  no 
work,  and  keeps  no  position  found  for  him, 
the  prond  man  who  sends  his  sick  wife  to 
the  Diet-kitchen  for  the  baby's  milk,  and 
leaves  her  to  wash  all  day  while  he  loafs  in 
the  street,  the  drinker  who  earns  high  wages 
but  lets  wife  and  children  starve,  all  belong 
to  the  Law,  and  not  to  Medicine,  though  the 
doctor  sees  only  too  much  of  them. 

In  regard^to  the  abuse  of  free  medical  aid 
I  cannot  quote  better  authority  than  Dr. 


Annie  S.  Daniel,  for  more  than  ten  years 
Outpractice  Physician  to  the  New  York  In- 
firmary for  Women  and  Children.  Of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  families  of  whom  careful 
statistics  were  kept,  she  says;  "The  maxi- 
mum amount  of  wages  earned  was  $19;  this 
in  one  family  only,  and  earned  by  three  per- 
sons. The  minimum  earned  regularly  $1.50, 
by  a  woman  finishing  pantaloons,  living  in 
one  room,  paying  $4  per  month  rent.  With 
an  average  income  of  $14  per  month,  an 
average  rent  of  $8.62f,  an  average  family  of 
four  and  one-half  to  be  fed  and  clothed,  wo 
fail  to  see  how  it  would  be  possible  to  pay 
for  doctor  .and  medicine,  and  we  are  inclined 
to  believe  that  abuse  of  medical  charity  is 
the  exception  rather  than  the  rule."  Never- 
theless it  keeps  one's  instinct  of  self-preser- 
vation normally  active  -when  asked  for  free 
advice  by  the  wife  of  a  New  York  City  fire- 
man who  thinks  $15  small  wages.  A  more 
difficult  case  is  that  of  the  wife  of  a  musi- 
cian who  earns  $30  a  week  during  the  sea- 
son, but  spends  most  of  it  on  himself,  and  is 
savage  at  the  suggestion  of  a  doctor's  bill. 
Surely  the  public  burden  is  heavy  enough 
without  assuming  snch  as  this ;  but  the 
woman  is  in  the  first  stages  of  consumption, 
and  steady  care  could  arrest  the  disease  here. 


But  for  assurance  one  incident  stands 
unique.  A  call  came  at  six  o'clock  one  morn- 
ing, and  a  man  stood  on  the  steps  with  a  girl 
and  crying  baby.  A  previous  meeting  made 
the  doctor  certain  that  this  should  be  a  pay- 
patient,  and  this  was  suggested.  The  man's 
hand  went  swiftly  into  his  pocket,  making 
the  silver  coin  jingle  merrily.  Then  a  second 
thought  came  to  his  aid,  and  saying,  "  Oh ! 
if  I  pay  I  go  to  a  man  doctor,"  he  walked 
calmly  away. 

In  the  philanthropic  work  open  to  medi- 
cal women  the  house  visiting  forms  only 
part  of  a  large  field  A  valuable  oppor- 
tunity is  given  in  the  clubs  for  Working- 
girls  and  for  Mothers.  These  clubs  have 
multiplied  rapidly,  and  talks  given  before 
them  upon  definite  subjects,  as  well  as  per- 
sonal interviews  between  the  doctor  and  in- 
dividual members,  give  special  opportunity 
for  disseminating  much  needed  knowledge. 
Simple  facts  of  hygiene  and  physiology  re- 
peated to  generation  after  generation  of 
young  girls  will  have  their  weight  in  the 
future,  though  for  the  present  it  often  seems 
like  writing  words  in  sand.  But  each  talk 
reaches  a  larger  audience  than  the  one  ad- 
dressed, for  new  facts  are  discussed  and 
commented  upon  iu  workshop  and  teuo- 


61 


ment,  atid  if  approved  are  solemnly  handed 
down. 

Medical  work  in  institutions  for  women 
and  children  is  entirely  different  in  kind 
but  no  less  important.  Among  the  young 
unmarried  girls  in  the  Maternity  Hospital 
one  meets  many  who  have  impulsively  gone 
astray,  who  are  thankful  to  be  helped  back 
again  into  safe  paths.  Concerning  work  in 
the  Rescue  Missions  for  the  drunken  and 
prostitutes  one  hesitates  to  speak.  It  is  so 
difficult,  and  the  chance  of  accomplishing 
permanent  good  is  relatively  so  small,  that 
all  other  work  seems  hopeful  by  comparison. 
Yet  the  woman  who  is  struggling  to  regain 
her  self-control  and  self-respect  can  best  be 
helped  by  a  woman,  and  it  is  sufficient  re- 
ward for  much  effort  and  many  failures  if 
one  may  know  of  a  single  tempted  and  sinful 
life  redeemed. 

One  form  of  work  there  is  which  is  always 
and  truly  delightful— that  of  the  Fresh  Air 
and  Vacation  Fund.  Children  make  spon- 
taneous expression  of  their  joy,  and  though 
it  be  the  depth  of  winter,  the  world  grows 
suddenly  warm  as  one  hears  the  eager  words . 
"There  goes  the  lady-doctor  that  sends  the 
children  to  the  country."  For  the  doctor  it 
ia  well  worth  while  to  examine  heads  and 


throats  indefinitely,  just  for  the  sake  of  see- 
ing the  thin,  palo  faces  come  back  to  the 
city  with  new  color  and  fresh  ideas.  The 
color  dies  out  only  too  soon,  but  the  ideas 
stay,  and  a  better  way  of  influencing  the 
life  of  the  city  could  hardly  be  devised  than 
this  summer  migration,  short  though  it  be. 

There  are  three  urgent  needs  of  the  pres- 
ent time  which  the  community  might  sup- 
ply First,  public  bath-houses,  which  would 
reduce  largely  the  amount  and  severity  of 
certain  kinds  of  disease  Many  a  person  is 
out  of  work  for  weeks  because  the  skin  is  so 
dirty  that  an  insignificant  injury  gives  rise 
to  severe  ulcer  or  poisoned  wound.  If,  as 
commonly  happens,  the  person  is  in  poor 
general  condition,  a  permanently  stiff  joint 
may  be  the  result.  And  to  be  thrown  out 
of  work  often  means  starvation.  Often,  for 
adults  who  are  at  home  only  when  the  whole 
family  and  all  the  boarders  are  there,  pre- 
scribing baths  is  much  the  same  thing  as 
prescribing  a  journey — quite  impracticable. 

There  is,  secondly,  the  great  need  of  places 
away  from  the  city  where  patients  in  the 
first  stages  of  consumption  may  be  sent.  A 
few  weeks  or  months  of  good  air  and  proper 
food  would  in  many  cases  avert  the  disease. 
None  of  the  hospitals  in  Now  York  will  take 


sa 


consumptives,  and  the  few  Homes  for  Con- 
sumptives and  Incurables  are  always  full. 

The  third  need  is  for  nurses  who  can  stay 
with  the  families — not  alone  the  trained 
nurses  of  great  skill.  There  are  many  cases 
of  relatively  mild  illness  in  which  a  woman 
of  ordinary  intelligence  can  follow  all  direc- 
tions while  doing  the  house-work  also,  dur- 
ing the  mother's  illness.  It  is  not  only  those 
who  are  too  poor  to  pay  anything  who  need 
such  a  helper,  but  there  are  families  who 
would  gladly  pay  a  moderate  sum  for  those 
services.  It  is  a  most  expensive  plan  which 
keeps  the  father,  sole  wage-earner,  from  his 
work  in  order  to  take  care  of  his  sick  wife, 
losing  thereby  his  place  perhaps.  And  many 
a  woman  is  ill  for  months  or  years  from  lack 
of  a  few  days'  care  at  the  first  I  believe 
that  there  could  be  no  plan  more  helpful 
than  the  provision  of  such  nurses  by  a  few 
institutions  who  should  guarantee  them  a 
sufficient  sum  to  afford  a  living.  Qualified 
women  are  deterred  from  taking  such  ir- 
regular work,  even  when  fairly  paid  at  the 
time,  because  at  the  end  of  a  case  another 
cannot  be  found  immediately,  or  time  may 
be  lost  by  their  own  breaking-down.  The 
co-operation  of  several  institutions  to  make 
provision  of  such  nurses  and  insure  them 


(.4 


from  idle  periods  and  want  would  make  the 
salary-tax  a  light  one.  Often  the  day-nurse 
only  is  needed,  or,  indeed,  possible,  from  the 
absence  of  a  sleeping-room  for  her. 

These  things  are  indeed  needed,  and  yet, 
as  oue  suggests  them,  their  inadequacy  seems 
fairly  overwhelming.  Sanitariums  and  nurses 
can  relieve  only  a  small  measure  of  the  evil 
results  of  overcrowding  and  of  irregular  and 
ill-paid  work.  They  do  not  touch  the  deeper 
mental  and  spiritual  injuries  of  which  the 
physical  defects  are  but  material  symbols. 
It  is  the  solution  of  the  Industrial  Question 
and  not  Philanthropy  which  is  needed, 
could  the  world  but  find  the  key  to  that  iu- 
linitely  complicated  problem. 


THE  TRAINED  NURSE. 

BY  AGNES  L.  BRENNAN,  SUPERINTENDENT  OF 
BELLEVUE  TRAINING-SCHOOL  FOR  NURSES. 

TRAINING-SCHOOLS  for  nurses  are  among 
the  last  and  best  triumphs  of  humanity,  of 
civilization,  of  Christianity.  They  repre- 
sent and  embody  the  new  religion  that  har- 
monizes and  unites  all  churches  and  all 
creeds — that  God  is  best  and  most  truly 
served  by  serving  our  fellow-man,  that  re- 
ligion consists  uo  longer  of  dogmas,  but  of 
doing  good. 

No  one  can  read  the  early  reports  of  the 
first  Training-school  in  this  country  without 
realizing  what  an  immense  influence  and 
power  for  good  a  few  zealous  and  devoted 
women  can  command,  and  how  surely  they 
enlist  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  others  like- 
minded  in  many  places.  To  the  ladies  of 
the  New  York  Visiting  Committee  for  Belle- 
vue  is  due  the  reform  in  nursing  in  this 
country. 

The  chief  work  of  a  Training-school  must 


be  done  by  women,  and  among  all  the  em- 
ployments which  modern  civilization  is  con- 
stantly throwing  open  to  woman  certainly 
none  is  more  worthy  of  her  than  that  of  an 
educated  and  technically  trained  nurse.  As 
there  can  be  no  man  too  gifted  or  too  broad 
to  adorn  the  ranks  of  the  medical  profession, 
so  there  can  be  no  woman  too  gifted  or  too 
tender  to  serve  in  the  ranks  of  Trained 
Nurses. 

Twenty  years  ago,  May  1st,  1873,  the  first 
effort  to  provide  better  nurses  for  our  sick 
was  made,  and  it  met  with  many  difficulties. 
One  of  the  greatest  was  finding  women  of 
education  and  refinement  who  were  willing 
to  go  through  the  severe  training  considered 
necessary  to  fit  them'  to  cope  with  all  phases 
of  disease  and  with  all  dispositions. 

It  is  sometimes  forgotten  that  Florence 
Nightingale  prepared  herself  for  her  great 
work  of  reform  by  ten  long  and  patient 
years  of  practical  study.  Her  example  has 
been  as  effective  as  the  result  of  her  work 
has  been  wonderful,  and  to-day  in  all  the 
Training-schools  will  be  found  educated  and 
refined  women,  studying  and  practising  to 
prepare  themselves  for  the  care  of  the  sick. 

This  preparation,  of  what  does  it  consist  T 
The  catalogue  of  any  good  school  will  tell 


you  that  the  course  of  training  consists  of 
•"the  proper  way  to  make  beds,  change  the 
bedclothes  and  patient's  clothes  without 
wasting  his  strength,  to  make  poultices,  un- 
derstand blisters,  and,  in  fact,  to  learn  how  to 
do  everything  for  a  sick  person,  be  it  man, 
woman,  or  child;  the  study  of  Anatomy, 
Physiology,  Materia  Medica  and  Diseases, 
Ventilation  and  Disinfection  ;  how  to  make 
and  to  apply  surgical  dressings;  order, 
neatness,  and  cooking  for  the  sick." 

Now  one  would  think  all  this  quite  as 
much  as  could  be  crowded  into  a  two  years' 
course,  but  there  is  something  else  to  learn, 
without  which  the  education  of  the  hand, 
eye,  or  ear  will  not  make  a  successful  nurse. 
It  is  the  training  of  the  individual  charac- 
ter: to  obey  absolutely,  to  cultivate  that  in- 
dispensable attribute,"  tact;"  in  fact, to  learn 
how  to  eiface  one's  self.  The  majority  of 
women  who  enter  a  Training-school  find  this 
part  of  the  training  far  more  difficult  than 
the  former,  and  it  is  the  rock  that  many 
stumble  against;  but  without  this  training, 
however  skilful  the  nurse  may  be  in  the 
technical  part  of  her  profession,  she  is  only 
a  mechanical  one  after  all.  But  the  two 
combined  give  the  ability  to  quiet  restless 
nerves',  to  inspire  unbounded  confidence  and 


that  trust  upon  which  hang  mighty  issues, 
now  faithful  obedience,  ami  again  quick 
and  sure  command  of  every  resource.  A 
controlled  body,  a  fertile  mind,  with  un- 
counted other  persoual  qualities,  will  give 
the  success  in  each  particular  case  which  a 
true  nurse  louga  for  as  the  real  reward  for 
her  labors. 

All  this  cannot  be  acquired  in  two  years, 
but  a  nurse  who  wishes  to  succeed  is  "  pro- 
gressive," and  will  increase  her  knowledge 
if  she  would  preserve  it. 

Let  us  see  the  sequence  of  that  small  be- 
ginning in  Bellevue  Hospital,  twenty  years 
ago. 

1st.  The  effect  of  intelligent  nursing  on 
the  medical  profession. 

2d.  The  growth  of  Training-schools. 

3d.  The  result  of  having  a  superior  class 
of  women  for  nurses  iu  our  City  Hospitals. 

4th.  District  nurses. 

5Mi.  Missionary  Nurses'in  foreign  lands. 

6th.  The  private  nurse. 

1st.  The  effect  of  intelligent  nursing  on 
the  medical  profession. 

As  far  back  as  1881  that  eminent  author- 
ity, the  late  Dr.  Austin  Flint,  said  in  his  ad- 
dress to  the  graduating  class  of  that  year: 


"I  believe  I  express  the  opinion  of  my 
brethren  of  the  medical  profession  of  New 
York  when  I  say  that  the  advent  of  nurses 
trained  in  Bellevne  Hospital  was  an  im- 
portant epoch  in  the  practice  of  medicine 
and  surgery  in  this  City."  Dr.  W.  T.  Lusk, 
on  a  like  occasion  in  1887,  said :  "  In  1878 
I  performed  the  first  successful  ovariotomy 
in  Bellevne  ;  up  to  that  date  the  operation 
was  regarded  as  unpractical ;  now  our  re- 
sults in  abdominal  surgery  are  certainly 
not  excelled.  In  the  last  four  years  there 
have  been  one  thousand  births  in  the  Emer- 
gency without  a  death  from  puerperal  infec- 
tion. The  improvement  I  unhesitatingly  at- 
tribute to  the  trained  nurse." 

2d.  The  growth  of  Training-schools. 

In  New  York  City  to-day  are  seven  largo 
Training-schools,  besides  a  number  of  small- 
er ones.  In  all  the  cities  of  the  Eastern 
States  one  school  (in  mauy  instances  sev- 
eral schools)  has  been  established  for  some 
years.  In  all  the  large  cities  of  the  West 
and  South  one  or  more  good  schools  can  be 
found.  In  fact,  no  hospital  is  now  built 
without  making  arrangements  for  a  Train- 
ing-school for  Nurses. 

3d.  The  result  of  having  a  superior  class 
of  women  for  nurses  in  the  City  Hospitals. 


7U 


Again  I  quote  from  Dr.  Lusk's  address  in 
1837 :  "  A  very  remarkable  change  has 
taken  place  in  the  morale  of  the  patients. 
Bellevne  is  no  longer  regarded  by  the  help- 
less poor  as  a  penal  institution.  There  is 
no  such  efficient  medicine  for  the  sick  as 
tidiness,  system,  and  order.  Where,  in  old 
times,  we  had  snllenness  aud  fear  we  now 
have  serenity  and  peace.  It  is  a  source  of 
wonder  to  me  to  notice  the  confidence  with 
•which  the  patients  undergo  the  severest 
operations,  but  the  reason  is  they  feel  so 
sure  that  they  will  receive  the  same  care, 
the  same  consideration,  the  same  watchful- 
ness that  is  commanded  by  the  rich  in  their 
own  homes." 

4th.  District  nurses. 

When,  in  1876,  one  of  the  graduates  de- 
cided to  work  among  the  sick  poor  in  their 
own  homes  under  the  auspices  of  the  City 
Missions,  the  Managers  rejoiced  that  their 
work  had  so  soon  begun  to  develop  this 
branch  which  had  been  an  object  with 
them  from  the  beginning.  This  nurse  soon 
found  her  hands  full,  and  found  also  that 
district  nursing  was  very  different  from 
hospital  nursing.  Here  her  life  is  passed 
in  going  from  street  to  street  in  all  weath- 
ers, up  and  down  tenement- houses  dark 


aud  pestiferous,  tending  sometimes  the 
very  poorest  and  most  forlorn  in  the  city. 

From  March,  1876,  to  November,  1877, 
this  iinrse  had  made  nine  hundred  and 
thirty-five  visits  and  fifty  dispensary  calls. 
Now  what  is  meant  by  a  visit.  I 

The  nurse  attends  not  only  to  the  sick 
person,  but  looks  after  the  rest  of  the 
household.  If  the  mother  is  the  patient, 
the  nurse  attends  to  the  children.  They 
have  to  be  washed  and  dressed,  the  dinner 
has  to  be  cooked  for  them  and  the  father, 
and  the  place  cleaned  up ;  so  that  one  visit 
may  mean  two  or  even  three  or  four  hours. 

A  successful  district  nurse  must  be  a  good 
teacher,  as  she  has  to  instruct  her  patients 
in  the  management  of  their  children  ;  she 
enlightens  them  on  the  importance  and 
harmlessness  of  bathing,  shows  them  how 
to  cook  simple  dishes,  aud  the  necessity  of 
keeping  clean  rooms,  etc.,  etc. 

In  1880  the  "Report"  says  that  during 
the  past  five  years  this  branch  of  the  work 
hns  steadily  increased  in  favor  with  rich 
and  poor  alike.  There  are  now  eight 
nurses  occupied,  often  far  beyond  their 
strength.  During  the  year,  9000  visits  have 
been  made,  carrying  relief  aud  comfort  to 
1738  patients,  more  than  one -fourth  of 


whom  were  mothers  with  infants.  The 
iiiirses  have  expended  for  medicines  and 
nourishment,  $1172.93;  have  given  away 
1251  garments,  and  lent  for  the  comfort  of 
the  sick  536  articles. 

In  the  summer  of  1879,  the  Society  of 
Ethical  Culture,  with  the  aid  of  a  Bcllevue 
graduate,  inaugurated  the  work  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Dispensaries. 

In  1893  we  have  the  City  Mission  with  a 
large  staff  of  district  nurses,  the  Society  of 
Ethical  Culture,  and  nearly  every  church,  of 
whatever  denomination,  with  one  or  more 
nurses  working  in  its  parish  ;  besides  these, 
many  ladies  employ  a  nurse  for  a  particular 
locality  in  which  they  are  interested.  So 
much  for  New  York. 

In  the  summer  of  1883,  one  of  the  Ethical 
Culture  district  nurses,  a  Bellevne  gradu- 
ate, was  lent  to  Chicago.  She  spent  six 
months  there,  and  left  two  districts  running 
smoothly.  From  there  she  went  to  Imliau- 
apolis,  and  instructed  the  ladies  of  the 
Flower  Mission  how  to  establish  the  work 
in  their  city.  In  all  cities  through  the  land 
wherever  the.ro  is  a  Training-school  well 
established  will  bo  found  the  "district 
nurse." 

In  1884  another  graduate,  who  had  done 


73 


district  uursiug  in  this  city,  returned  to  Let 
own  country  (Holland)  to  organize  the 
work  there.  As  this  was  a  branch  of  the 
work  very  near  to  the  hearts  of  the  Man- 
agers of  this  first  Training-school,  it  is  grati- 
fying to  feel  how  abundantly  their  efforts 
in  this  direction  have  been  blessed. 

5th.  Missionary  nurses  in  foreigu  lands. 

In  1888  two  graduates  from  Bellevue 
went  to  China,  one  as  Superintendent  of  a 
Training-school  and  Hospital,  the  other  as 
missionary  nurse.  lu  1839  there  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  same  school  a  young  Persian 
woman  who,  when  her  medical  studies  are 
completed,  will  return  to  her  native  laud 
and  practise  her  profession  among  her 
country-women. 

In  1890  another  graduate  went  to  Japan 
to  take  charge  of  a  Training-school,  another 
to  Turkey  for  the  same  purpose.  In  1891 
another,  who  studied  medicine  after  gradu- 
ating, went  to  India,  to  work  among  the 
women  of  that  country. 

In  1883  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nevins,  with  the 
aid  of  a  Bellevue  graduate,  established  St. 
Paul's  Home  for  Trained  Nurses  iu  Rome, 
Italy,  and  by  them  a  large  number  of 
American  travellers  have  been  nursed  back 
to  health  and  strength. 


Much  more  could  be  written  on  the  sub- 
ject of  "Missionary  Nurses,"  but  this  will 
suffice  to  show  that  "the  little  seed  sown 
with  so  much  anxiety  twenty  years  ago  has 
borne  fruit  a  hundredfold." 

6th.  The  private  nurse. 

The  private  uurse  is  so  well  known  and 
so  thoroughly  appreciated  that  very  little 
iieed  be  said  on  the  subject. 

From  the  very  start,  the  family  who  had 
once  realized  the  comfort  of  a  nurse  in  the 
house  who  could  be  trusted,  and  whose 
judgment  could  be  relied  upon,  no  matter 
what  emergency  arose,  would  uever  go  back 
to  the  old-time  nurse. 

The  medical  profession,  at  first  very  scep- 
tical as  to  the  advisability  of  having  intel- 
ligent nursing,  soon  felt  it  a  necessity,  and 
to-day  very  few  physicians  will  undertake 
a  case  of  severe  illness  without  the  aid  of  a 
trained  nurse. 

Of  the  six  branches  of  nurses'  work  this 
last  is  without  doubt  the  one  that  requires 
the  most  of  the  nurse,  and  the  nurse  who 
takes  it  up  must  accept  heavy  responsibil- 
ities, and  would  be  wise  to  understand 
from  the  beginning  that  the  work  is  very 
exacting. 

A  good  man  once  tried  to  impress  upon  a 


graduating  class  a  little  of  what  might  be 
expected  of  them  in  private  duty  :  "  That 
they  must  be  endowed  with  inexhaustible 
patience  and  have  almost  superhuman  en- 
durance, that  they  are  not  supposed  to 
know  weariness  or  exhaustion,  and  that 
under  the  most  trying  conditions  they  must 
maintain  the  bearing  of  a  perfect  lady." 

Poor  woman  !  How  much  more  satisfac- 
tory it  would  be  for  the  nurse  if  the  public 
would  learn  that  she  is  not  yet  an  angel, 
any  more  than  she  is  a  machine. 

It  is  not  unusual  to  hear  it  said  that  "  no 
personal  relation  exists  between 'the  nurse 
and  her  patient;  it  is  just  so  much  work 
for  so  much  money."  Nothing  does  more 
discredit  to  the  profession  than  this  idea. 
Take  away  sentiment  if  you  like,  but  leave 
sympathy,  for  without  it  the  nurse  is  never 
a  success. 

Nearly  all  schools  keep  a  "  Registry  "  for 
the  benefit  of  their  graduates,  who  find  it 
of  incalculable  service,  and  the  physician, 
as  a  rule,  would  rather  get  the  nurse  direct 
from  her  school. 

The  number  of  private  calls  filled  dur- 
ing 1892  by  graduates  of  Bellevue  alone  was 
1366.  This  does  not  include  the  many  that 
could  not  be  filled. 


T6 


From  this  it  can  be  soon  that  "Trained 
Nursing"  as  a  lucrative  employment  is  ab- 
solutely sure,  and  if  the  few  noble  women 
who  agitated  this  great  reform  in  the  nurs- 
ing of  the  sick  could  see  but  this  one  result 
of  the  trials  and  difficulties  they  went 
through  twenty  years  ago,  they  should  bo 
satisfied  with  the  hundreds  of  educated 
women  they  have  been  the  means  of 
making  independent — women  who  would, 
without  this  profession,  be  in  many  cases 
more  or  less  a  burden  on  their  friends,  now 
self-supporting,  cheerful,  and  useful. 


THE  SOCIETY  OF  THE  RED  CKOSS. 

BY  LAURA  M.  DOOLITTLK. 

THOUGH  this  Society  has  been  iu  exist- 
ence iu  Europe  for  twenty-nine  years,  and 
in  the  United  States  for  eleven,  one  realizes 
in  beginning  to  write  of  it  that  even  to-day 
its  objects  must  be  explained.  So  quiet,  so 
modest  has  our  American  branch  been  in  its 
ways  and  its  manners  that  little  is  known 
by  our  people  at  large  of  its  character  and 
workings,  although  it  is  to-day  one  of  the 
most  important  philanthropic  organizations 
in  the  world — one  of  the  most  productive 
and  beneficent.  It  is,  then,  a  confederation 
of  relief  societies  iu  different  countries,  the 
aim  of  which  is  to  ameliorate  the  condition 
of  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  in  time  of  war. 
Its  operations  extend  over  nearly  the  entire 
civilized  world. 

But  to  understand  its  spirit  one  must 
glance  back  into  history  for  a  moment — 
space  would  forbid  more  than  a  glance — in 
order  to  appreciate  the  conditions  that  made 


it  necessary  and  finally  led  to  its  formation. 
Though  during  the  barbarous  aud  semi- 
barbarous  ages  of  the  past,  aud  almost  down 
to  our  o\vu  time,  the  maintaining  of  nation- 
alities and  governments,  and  through  thorn, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  evolution  of 
civilization  itself  has  depended  upon  and 
made  unavoidable  incessant  conflicts  of 
arms  —  though  war,  the  organized,  system- 
atic wounding,  maiming,  and  slaughtering 
of  men  has  thus  been  largely  the  occupation 
of  the  world — not  until  three  centuries  ago 
was  there  in  existence  any  system  supported 
by  the  State  for  the  care  and  relief  of  those 
hors  du  combat  through  the  calamities  of 
battle  or  siege.  And  later  still,  the  medical 
and  sanitary  service  of  armies  was  a  thing 
little  thought  of.  Even  during  wars  so  re- 
cent as  the  Napoleonic,  when  the  bravest 
and  best  of  the  people  of  all  Europe  were 
being  slain  by  thousands,  there  was  no  hos- 
pital system  worthy  the  name.  In  records 
of  the  time  we  read  much  of  the  glory  of  dy- 
ing iu  the  service  of  one's  country,  as  though 
that  were  all  a  soldier  could  ask,  and  that 
glory,  cheap  and  abundant,  seemed  to  have 
been  pretty  much  all  that  Kings  and  Em- 
perors and  Councils  were  willing  to  grant. 
One  is  lost  iu  wouder  that  such  a  stud1  <>!' 


70 


things  could  ever  have  existed,  and,  more 
than  sill,  that  it  could  have  continued  so  late 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  Is  it  "  standing 
still  at  high  uoon  and  finding  fault  with  the 
shadows  of  early  dawn  "  thus  to  wonder  ? 
But  alas!  universal  war  itself  was  sufficient 
to  prevent  the  spirit  of  humanity  from 
growing  up.  "We  are  screened  evermore," 
in  the  words  of  Emerson,  "from  prema- 
ture ideas.  Our  eyes  are  holden  that  we 
cannot  see  things  that  stare  us  iu  the 
face  until  the  mind"  [and  the  time]  "is 
ripened." 

But  the  time  was  to  ripen  at  last  for  a 
change.  Perhaps  it  was  in  the  hidden 
councils  of  God  that  those  fierce  and  bloody 
campaigns  of  the  early  years  of  our  century 
— the  culmination  and  denouement  as  it  were 
of  the  world's  history  down  to  that  time, 
should  he  the  instrument  iu  bringing  it 
about.  For  certain  it  is  that  out  of  that 
frenzied  carnival  of  war,  resulting  from  a 
mighty  upheaval  of  the  elementary  social 
forces,  the  modern  spirit  of  humanity,  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  rights  of  man  as 
man,  was  born.  It  is  to  this  sense  largely 
that  we  owe  the  recognition  of  what  is  due 
to  the  soldier,  for  he  has  had  during  the  ages 
Ihe  same  claim  which  he  has  now,  an  the 


defender  of  nations  and  the  guardian  of  civ- 
ilization. 

But  this  new  spirit  of  humanity,  once 
abroad  in  the  world,  grew  fast.  Since  the 
campaigns  of  Napoleon  no  war  has  occurred 
in  Europe  without  voluntary  relief  societies 
springing  up  in  aid  of  the  disabled,  but  their 
efficiency  was  lessened  by  want  of  organiza- 
tion and  system,  and  their  existence  usual- 
ly ended  with  the  end  of  the  war  which 
called  them  forth.  When,  however,  the 
great  war  of  1853  broke  out  between  Russia 
and  the  Allied  Powers,  it  was  evident  that 
Europe,  and  especially  England,  thought 
dift'erently,  felt  differently  in  regard  to  the 
common  soldier  from  what  she  had  ever  done 
before.  He  was  far  from  being  the  mere 
machine  he  had  been.  The  people  at  largo 
had  come  into  new  relations  with  him.  A 
new  power  in  modern  life  also  had  grown  up 
which  was  to  bring  the  two  into  still  closer 
touch.  When  the  English  armies  set  out 
for  the  Crimea  the  newspaper  correspond- 
ent went  with  them.  And  when,  after  the 
first  battle,  he  poured  upon  Britain  the  story 
of  the  sufferings  of  her  army,  the  kingdom 
from  end  to  end  was  roused  to  sudden  and 
fierce  indignation.  The  war  was  mighty  and 
desperate  —  the  climate  deadly  to  men  just 


from  the  humid  lowlands  of  England  and 
the  wind-swept  highlands  of  Scotland  and 
Wales.  Accounts  continued  to  come  thick 
and  fast  of  the  awful  condition  of  the  troops. 
One  regiment  was  reduced  from  1100  to  20 
men  able  for  duty.  Another  had  but  10. 
Men  wounded  in  battle  lay  in  the  trenches, 
or  in  pools  of  water,  or  in  the  mud  just  where 
dropped  by  their  comrades  as  they  dragged 
them  from  the  front  —  uutended  and  unfed, 
their  wounds  rankling  and  festering.  Pes- 
tilence and  disease  of  all  kinds  had  their 
way  unhindered,  for  the  hospitals,  through 
overcrowding,  were  little  better  than  dens 
of  death.  And  this  monstrous  condition  of 
things  ensued  because  Government  had 
failed  to  provide  an  efficient  sanitary  serv- 
ice. The  army  had  gone  out  with  only  a 
half-supply  of  physicians,  nurses,  medicines, 
and  hospital  stores.  The  heart  of  England 
was  stirred  to  its  depths,  and  Government 
woke  as  if  from  a  dream. 

The  story  of  the  great  system  then  inau- 
gurated and  successfully  carried  out,  of  vol- 
untary civil  care,  supplementary  to  that  of 
the  military,  of  the  sick  and  wounded  in 
time  of  war  is  well  known.  The  truth  was 
accepted  then  and  has  not  been  disputed 
since,  that  the  military  power  never  did  and 
6 


probably  never  could  provide  and  keep  in  op- 
eration an  adequate  medical  service  through 
a  long  aud  severe  campaign. 

Lord  Sydney  Herbert,  Minister  of  War, 
appalled  like  the  rest  by  the  awful  distress 
iu  the  Crimea,  with  great  courage  and  res- 
olution—  against  the  weight  deep  almost  as 
life  of  ancient  military  precedent  aud  prej- 
udice—  wrote  Miss  Florence  Nightingale, 
then  in  charge  of  a  hospital  iu  London, 
asking  for  help.  A  letter  from  her  to  the 
Minister  begging  permission  to  help  was  on 
its  way  at  the  same  moment.  A  few  days 
later  she,  with  forty  devoted  women  com- 
panions, set  out  for  the  scene  of  war.  Here 
we  have  the  beginning  of  a  movement 
which  has  grown  in  comparatively  few 
years  to  a  system  by  which  the  miseries 
of  the  soldiers  in  the  field  are  reduced  to 
the  lowest  degree  possible  in  the  present 
condition  of  human  knosvledge.  The  his- 
tory of  Miss  Nightingale  and  her  three  hun- 
dred companions  in  the  Crimejv  —  for  the 
number  was  increased  to  that — we  will  not 
repeat.  The  whole  world  is  familiar  with 
it;  how  order  was  brought  out  of  chaos  in 
the  hospitals,  how  now  ones  were  estab- 
lished, how  hope  and  returning  health  fol- 
lowed in  the  footsteps  of  those  self-sacri- 


ficing  \voineu,  how  men  snatched  from 
quick-coining  death  would  raise  their  feeble 
hands  in  blessing  and  even  kiss  the  shadow  of 
their  benefactress  as  she  passed,  and  how 
she  has  become  one  of  the  world's  highest 
and  most  beloved  ideals  of  character. 

The  story  of  the  Crimean  War,  impressed 
as  it  was  by  the  experience  of  Miss  Nightin- 
gale and  her  staff,  demonstrated  the  truth 
that  the  sufferings  resulting  from  war  are  in 
a  large  measure  preventable.  But  its  great- 
est service  to  humanity  was  in  proving  that 
the  civil  arm  could  most  properly  and  effect- 
ively supplement  the  military  in  the  sani- 
tary service  of  belligerent  armies.  Never 
again  will  the  forces  of  an  enlightened  coun- 
try set  out  to  encounter  battle  and  disease 
except  accompanied  by  a  civil  sanitary  serv- 
ice as  complete  as  money  and  medical  sci- 
ence are  able  to  supply. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  immediate 
events  which  led  to  the  organization  of 
The  Society  of  the  Red  Cross,  under  whose 
banner  every  State  in  Europe  is  to-day  en- 
rolled. Some  one  has  uttered  a  beautiful 
and  most  suggestive  saying,  that  "  Saint 
Francis  was  himself  God's  remembrance  of 
the  poor."  God's  remembrance  of  the  sick 
and  wounded  soldier  was  a  Swiss  gentle- 


mau  named  Henri  Dunant.  Round  his  hu- 
mane and  sympathetic  heart  firat  stirred 
the  thought  that  societies  similar  in  aim  to 
those  which  had  sprung  up  already  in  dif- 
ferent countries — to  exist  permanently  — 
might  be  formed  among  all  the  Nations, 
bound  together  by  solemn  agreements,  to 
prevent  unnecessary  suffering  during  mili- 
tary campaigns.  M.  Dunant  was  travelling 
in  Italy  in  pursuit  of  his  own  objects,  in 
June,  1859,  when  the  battle  of  Solferino  oc- 
curred. Happening  to  be  near  the  place,  he 
took  part  in  the  care  of  the  wounded,  re- 
maining for  some  days  in  the  hospitals.  He 
was  profoundly  impressed  with  the  strange 
and  to  him  unaccountable  lack  of  facilities 
for  the  care  of  the  wounded.  He  thought 
much  and  deeply  upou  the  subject.  After 
a  time  he  published  a  little  book  called  A 
Souvenir  of  Solferino,  describing  the  scenes 
he  had  witnessed  and  giving  a  vivid  picture 
of  the  horrors  of  war.  The  battles  of  the 
Italian  campaign  were  still  fresh  in  people's 
minds,  and  the  book,  soon  translated  into 
several  languages,  made  a  deep  and  wide- 
spread sensation.  Encouraged  by  its  recep- 
tion, M.  Dtinant  resolved  to  present  hia 
theories  before,  the  Society  of  Public  Utility 
— a  society  of  Switzerland  similar  in  scope 


and  purpose  to  our  "Society  of  Social  Sci- 
ence" which  meets  annually  at  Saratoga. 

The  measure  brought  distinctly  before 
this  Conference  and  discussed  \vas  the  es- 
tablishment in  each  country  of  a  national 
society  to  have  for  its  object  the  voluntary 
civil  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded  during 
campaigns.  This  central  society  was  to  form 
auxiliary  societies,  each  organization  to  be 
permanent  and  to  occupy  themselves  dur- 
ing peace  in  whatever  would  tend  to  their 
greater  efficiency;  in  maintaining  schools  for 
nurses;  in  studying  new  inventions  and  dis- 
coveries in  their  line  of  work ;  in  keeping 
up  close  intercourse  with  each  other,  that  all 
might  benefit  by  interchange  of  ideas;  in 
collecting  money  and  stores  to  be  drawn 
upon  in  case  of  need;  and  iu  everything,  in 
fact,  which  would  tend  to  a  mastery  of  sani- 
tary science  and  art.  Each  central  society 
was  to  make  one  of  its  essential  duties  the 
securing  of  recognition  by  its  Government, 
and  the  establishing  of  sympathetic  rela- 
tions with  it. 

The  President  of  the  Swiss  society,  M. 
Gustav  Mognier,  chanced  to  be  a  man  of 
large  and  liberal  mind — a  philanthropist — 
who  devoted  all  his  time  and  large  wealth 
to  its  interests.  He  welcomed  M.  Duuant 


warmly,  and  presented  him  to  the  society. 
This  body  appointed  a  committee,  the  Gen- 
eral-in-Chief of  the  Swiss  Confederation  at 
its  head,  to  take  charge  of  the  movement 
and  endeavor  to  interest  other  countries. 
An  International  Conference  at  Geneva  in 
October,  1863,  was  the  result.  Sixteen  na- 
tions, including  all  the  great  European  pow- 
ers except  Russia,  were  represented.  This 
Conference,  under  the  authority  of  the 
Supreme  Federal  Council  of  Switzerland, 
resolved  to  call  an  International  Conven- 
tion. 

In  response  to  this  call  a  convention  met 
at  Geneva,  August  8,  1864.  It  was  numer- 
ously attended,  and  included  twenty-five 
members  eminent  in  diplomatic  or  military 
service,  or  in  medical  science  All  came 
empowered  by  their  Governments  to  make 
and  sign  a  treaty  in  accordance  with  its  ob- 
jects if  it  should  be  by  them  deemed  advis- 
able. Again  sixteen  nations  were  represent- 
ed. The  deliberations  occupied  two  weeks. 
A  code  of  nine  articles  was  adopted.  The 
first:  "  Tiiat  hospitals  containing  the  sick 
and  wounded  shall  be  held  neutral  by  bel- 
ligerents so  long  as  thus  occupied." 

The  second  and  third  provide  for  "  The 
neutrality  and  security  of  all  persons  em- 


ployed  in  care  of  the  inmates  of  the  hos- 
pital—  surgeons,  chaplains,  nurses,  attend- 
ants—  even  after  the  enemy  has  gained  the 
ground  ;  but  when  no  longer  required  for 
the  wounded  they  shall  be  promptly  con- 
ducted under  escort  to  the  outposts  of  the 
enemy  to  rejoin  the  corps  to  which  they  be- 
long, thus  preventing  all  opportunity  to 
roam  free  and  make  observations  undercov- 
er of  neutrality," 

"  Article  four  settles  the  terms  upon 
which  the  material  of  hospitals  shall  not  be 
subject  to  capture." 

"  Article  five,  with  a  view  to  qniet  the 
fears  of  the  inhabitants  in  the  vicinity  of 
a  battle,  who  often  flee  in  terror,  as  well  as 
to  secure  their  assistance  and  the  comfort 
of  their  homes  for  the  care  of  the  wounded, 
offers  military  protection  and  certain  ex- 
emptions to  all  who  shall  entertain  and  care 
for  the  wounded  in  their  houses." 

"Article  six  binds  the  parties  contracting 
the  treaty,  not  only  to  give  the  requisite 
care  and  treatment  to  all  sick  and  wounded 
who  shall  fall  into  their  hands,  but  to  see  to 
it  that  their  misfortune  shall  not  be  aggra- 
vated by  the  prospect  of  banishment  or  im- 
prisonment ,  they  shall  not  be  retained  as 
prisoners  of  war,  but,  if  circumstances  admit, 


H 


may  be  given  np  immediately  after  the  ac- 
tion, to  be  cared  for  by  their  own  army,  or, 
if  retained  until  recovered,  and  found  dis- 
abled for  service,  they  shall  be  safely  re- 
turned to  their  country  and  friends,  and 
also  that  all  convoys  of  sick  and  wounded 
shall  be  protected  by  absolute  neutrality." 

"Article  seven  provides  for  a  flag  for  hos- 
pitals and  convoys,  and  an  arm-badge  for 
persons.  The  badge  adopted  was  a  red  cross 
with  four  equal  arms,  on  a  white  ground — 
this  being  the  national  ensign  of  Switzer- 
land with  the  colors  reversed." 

"Articles  eight  and  nine  pi'ovide  for  the 
details  of  execution  being  left  open  for  the 
subsequent  admission  of  other  Govern- 
ments." 

This  treaty  at  first  received  twelve  sig- 
natures, which  were  soon  increased  to  six- 
teen. 

The  formation  of  this  treaty  of  Geneva — 
I  must  use  that  well-worn  phrase  for  no 
other  so  well  expresses  the  truth — marks  an 
epoch.  Nothing  so  beneficent  has  been 
produced  within  the  century.  The  world- 
spirit — the  Welt-Geist — in  its  onward  sweep 
through  humanity  must  surely  have  paused 
when  this  compact  was  signed,  to  mark  the 
spot  with  a  white  stone.  For  no  intelligent 


gg 


person  cau  listen  to  its  provisions  and  not 
be  conscious  of  the  feeling  away  down  in 
the  depths  of  his  soul  that  here  is  the  begin- 
ning of  the  end  of  war.  Though  he  may  not 
be  able  to  justify  his  belief  to  reason,  yet 
the  belief  remains.  Since  the  time  when, 
the  wounded  were,  as  a  matter  of  course,  left 
to  starve,  die,  and  rot  on  the  field  where 
they  fell  —  what  a  change !  The  spirit  of 
Christ  has  at  last  begun  to  work  itself  into 
the  practices  and  institutions  of  Govern- 
ments and  Nations.  Indeed,  when  one  thinks 
upon  Ministers  of  State  writing  orders  for 
rifled  cannon,  Krupp  guns,  and  dynamite, 
and  with  the  same  stroke  of  the  pen  pur- 
chasing balms,  cordials,  and  downy  pillows 
for  wounded  enemies  who  may  fall  into  their 
hands  —  when  one  sees  in  Governmental 
reports  of  the  expenses  of  campaigns,  the 
salaries  of  surgeons,  nurses,  and  attendants 
of  a  costly  service  used  for  disabled  enemies 
equally  with  its  own — he  begins  to  look 
beneath  the  surface  of  things  for  the  source 
of  the  strange  anomaly.  Thus  looking,  he 
sees  that  in  the  growth  of  the  world  in  civ- 
ilization, in  the  progress  of  that  moral  rev- 
olution, the  germs  of  which  were  planted 
when  Christianity  was  unfolded,  the  spirit 
of  war  itself  has  changed.  Anciently,  wars 


90 


were  usually  of  conquest  or  for  religion, 
and,  of  course,  of  invasion.  Of  the  former, 
the  primary  idea  was  the  depriving  of 
some  people  of  their  hard-won  rights,  and 
both  were  of  a  kind  calculated  to  rouse 
the  fiercest  human  passions.  The  fighting 
was  hand  to  hand,  too — face  to  face  ;  weap- 
ons were  such  —  knives,  spears,  swords  — 
that  it  could  not  be  otherwise.  Men  became 
like  wild  beasts  in  the  fray  The  berserkers 
of  the  cold  and  stolid  North,  sufficiently  to 
fire  their  passions  for  the  conflict,  used  to 
quaff  a  fiery  drink  which  was  believed  to 
have  miraculous  powers  and  which  excited 
them  to  frenzy.  In  the  midst  of  such  a  state 
of  things  "no  quarter"  to  the  fallen,  whether 
wounded  or  whole,  was,  of  course,  the  rule. 
But.  since  that  early  time  the  world  has  so 
altered  that  during  the  latter  half  of  our 
century  wars  of  conquest  and  invasion,  or 
even  of  ambition  and  selfish  personal  ag- 
grandizement have  rarely  occurred  except 
among  barbarous  people.  Now  nations  re- 
sort to  arms  to  preserve  the  balance  of  pow- 
er— or  for  the  national  vanity — or  to  defeat 
the  ignorant  and  reckless  spirit  of  disunion. 
Instead  of  close  personal  combat  wars  are 
illustrations  of  the  triumph  of  inventive 
genius  as  shown  in  magnificent  ordnance; 


91 


they  are  demonstrations  of  a  country's 
wealth  and  power,  and  the  resources  of  its 
proletariat.  Instead  of  expressions  of  a  spirit 
of  rage  and  destruction,  wars  are  at  present 
largely  constructive  and  preservative.  Thus 
the  beautiful,  beneficent,  peace-making  trea- 
ty we  are  considering  came  to  be  possible 
only  iu  the  year  1864,  instead  of  in  any 
previous  year  of  the  Christian  era.  And 
almost  in  the  same  decade  the  idea  of  arbi- 
tration in  cases  of  national  dispute  was  born. 
Forty  Governments  are  now  bound  to- 
gether by  the  articles  of  Geneva.  So  many 
nations,  some  of  Asia,  some  of  the  isles  of 
the  sea,  clasp  hands  under  its  banner  and 
pledge  themselves  to  carry  out  its  humane 
provisions.  Never  again  in  any  civilized 
country  will  the  words,  "wounded  and  a 
prisoner"  —  worse  than  the  tidings  "killed 
in  battle"  —  strike  death  to  the  hearts  of 
waiting,  longing  wives  and  mothers.  Never 
again  will  the  fallen  in  battle  lie  unfed  and 
nntended,  in  heat,  in  wet,  or  frozen  to  the 
earth,  for  want  of  the  flag  of  truce  which 
would  make  safe  the  relief-corps  going  to 
their  rescue;  never  again  will  the  ambulance 
which  would  pick  its  way  about  to  gather 
them  up,  run  the  risk  of  being  fired  upon  by 
the  exultant  victors  who  shall  hold  the  field. 


In  the  organization  of  the  Red  Cross  So- 
ciety it  was  thought  indispensable  that 
there  should  be  a  head-centre,  empowered 
to  act  as  agent  between  the  societies  com- 
posing it.  When-  the  Conference  of  1863 
closed,  it  was  at  once  decided  by  the  com- 
mittee appointed  to  execute  its  benign  de- 
crees, that  the  society  of  the  country  which 
had  been  nursing-mother  to  the  original  idea, 
Switzerland,  should  be  this  head -centre. 
The  Swiss  society,  therefore,  is  internation- 
al, the  only  one  that  is  so.  It  occupies  itself 
with  the  general  interests  and  objects  of 
the  society,  and  in  correspondence  with  the 
others — a  correspondence  carried  on  in  all 
the  languages  of  Europe. 

The  first  act  in  each  country,  after  its 
Government  has  signed  the  treaty,  has  been 
to  form  a  National  central  society.  Euch 
National  society  is  independent,  making  its 
own  regulations,  except  as  it  owes  alle- 
giance to  the  head-centre — the  international 
society  of  Switzerland — in  respect  to  a  few 
fundamental  principles  essential  to  unity  of 
direction  and  successful  action. 

These  are,  first,  that  in  each  country  there 
shall  be  one  national,  central  society,  to 
which  the  auxiliary  societies  in  that  coun- 
try shall  be  tributary,  the  central  society 


being  the  medium  of  communication  for  all 
with  the  seat  of  war  and  with  medical  au- 
thorities. It  is  through  this  central  soci- 
ety that  the  work  is  recognized  by  Govern- 
ment. 

Second,  that  the  societies  shall  in  time  of 
peace  keep  themselves  constantly  prepared 
for  war,  thus  securing  permanency  of  or- 
ganization. 

Third,  that  during  war  their  succor  shall 
be  extended  to  foe  equally  with  friend,  when- 
ever necessary. 

Fourth,  that  societies  whose  countries  are 
at  peace  may  send  relief  to  belligerent  ar- 
mies without  being  considered  to  violate 
any  principle  of  neutrality  to  which  their 
Governments  may  be  pledged. 

Auxiliary  societies  are  formed — as  many 
as  are  found  desirable  and  useful — to  co-op- 
erate with  the  central  society. 

In  Europe  the  central  societies  are  under 
the  patronage  of  men  and  women  of  rank — 
often  the  members  of  royal  families.  Of  the 
first  one  formed,  the  German  Empress  Au- 
gusta, grandmother  of  the  present  Emperor, 
was  head,  taking  ardent  interest  in  its  af- 
fairs. Her  daughter,  Grand  -  duchess  Lou- 
ise of  Baden,  filled  the  same  position  in  the 
society  of  that  country.  Both  these  ladies 


were  heart  and  soul  in  the  work  of  the  Rod 
Cross. 

It  would  be  a  labor  of  love  to  tell  in  de- 
tail the  story  of  the  work  of  this  great  so- 
ciety on  many  fields  since  its  organization 
nearly  twenty-nine  years  ago.  The  treaty 
has  triumphantly  stood  every  test  to  which 
it  has  been  put,  and  the  same  may  be  af- 
firmed of  the  many  societies  formed  under  it. 
They  have  proved  their  incalculable  useful- 
ness in  every  war  which  has  occurred  in  Eu- 
rope since  their  formation.  During  the  first 
ten  years  of  existence  they  participated  iu 
five  great  wars.  A  description  of  some  of 
their  methods  and  achievements  during  one 
of  these — that  of  Sleswick-Holsteiu  in  1866 
— will,  however, serve  to  indicate  their  work. 
And  here  the  only  recourse  for  information 
is  to  pages  written  by  the  honored  President 
of  the  American  Society. 

Germany  took  the  Red  Cross  close  to  her 
heart  from  the  first.  At  once,  after  putting 
her  name  to  the  treaty,  she  formed  a  pow- 
erful central  society,  which  came  into  most 
cordial  relations  with  the  Government,  en- 
joying its  earnest  sympathy.  Sub-commit- 
tees were  established  in  many  parts  of  the 
Kingdom.  All  set  heartily  to  work  study- 
ing methods,  training  nurses,  collec  ting  sup- 


N 


plies,  and  in  every  way  preparing  themselves 
according  to  the  spirit  of  the  conference  of 
1863.  When  war  came,  therefore,  in  1866, 
the  Red  Cross  of  Germany  was  fully  ready. 
"  The  Central  Committee  of  Berlin  was 
flooded  with  contributions  from  the  provin- 
cial committees.  In  the  eight  provinces  or 
Prussia  four  millions  of  thalers  were  collect- 
ed, and  the  other  States  of  Germany  were 
not  behind.  So  munificently  did  the  people 
bestow  their  aid  that  large  storehouses  were 
provided  in  Berlin  and  in  the  provinces  for 
its  reception ;  and  at  the  central  depot  in 
Berlin  two  hundred  paid  persons,  besides  a 
large  number  of  volunteers  and  nearly  three 
hundred  ladies  and  misses,  were  employed  in 
classifying,  parcelling,  packing  up,  and  des- 
patching the  goods.  Special  railroad  trains 
carried  material  to  the  points  of  need.  In 
one  train  were  twenty-six  cars  laden  with 
two  thousand  hundred-weight  of  supplies. 
Never  had  private  charity,  however  carefully 
directed,  been  able  to  accomplish  such  prod- 
igies of  benevolence.  It  was  now  that  the 
beneficence  of  the  treaty  and  the  excellence 
of  the  organization  were  manifested.  But 
the  committee  did  not  confine  itself  to  send- 
ing supplies  for  the  wounded  to  the  seat 
of  war.  It  established  and  provisioned  re- 


freshmeut  stations  for  the  trains  to  which 
those  unable  to  proceed  to  the  great  hospi- 
tals without  danger  to  life  were  admitted, 
nursed,  and  cared  for  with  the  teuderest  so- 
licitude until  they  were  sufficiently  recov- 
ered to  be  removed,  or  death  took  them.  At 
the  station  of  Pardubitz  from  six  hundred 
to  eight  hundred  were  cared  for  daily,  for 
two  months,  and  lodging  provided  for  three 
hundred  at  night.  This  example  suffices  to 
show  the  extraordinary  results  of  well-or- 
ganized plans  and  concerted  action.  During 
the  war  the  relief  societies  had  also  to  con- 
tend with  the  terrible  scourge,  Cholera. 
There  can  be  no  estimate  of  the  misery  as- 
suaged and  deaths  prevented  by  the  unself- 
ish zeal  and  devotion  of  the  wearers  of  the 
Red  Cross." 

Constant  to  their  brave  humanitarian  pur- 
pose, the  German  societies  filled  the  interval 
between  1866  and  1870  with  the  most  loyal 
and  excellent  preparatory  work.  When  the 
Franco  -  Prussian  war  broke  out,  therefore, 
they  were  again  in  a  condition  of  complete 
efficiency.  The  central  society  had  only  to 
clap  its  hands,  as  it  were,  and  hundreds  of 
able  assistants,  equipped  cap-h-pie,  appeared 
in  Berlin,  to  be  despatched  to  all  points, 
"forming  a  chain  which  extended  over  the 


whole  country  aud  numbered  over  two  thou- 
sand persons.  Constant  communication  was 
kept  up  between  these  committees  and  the 
central  bureau,  aud  the  most  perfect  order 
and  discipline  was  maintained.  Relief  was 
sent  from  one  or  other  of  these  stations  as 
needed.  The  State  afforded  free  transport, 
and  the  voluntary  contributions  of  the  peo- 
ple kept  up  the  supplies  of  sanitary  material, 
so  that  there  was  never  any  lack  or  danger 
of  failure.  With  the  Government  trans- 
ports, whether  by  laud  or  water,  there  went 
always  the  agents  of  the  Red  Cross,  protect- 
ed by  their  badges  and  flag,  to  wait  on  the 
invoices,  hasten  their  progress,  see  to  their 
being  kept  in  good  order,  and  properly  de- 
livered at  their  destination.  Depots  of  sup- 
plies were  moved  from  place  to  place  as  ex- 
igencies demanded.  The  greatest  care  was 
taken  to  prevent  disorder  6r  confusion,  and 
the  best  military  circumspection  aud  regu- 
larity prevailed.  The  great  central  depot  at 
Berlin  comprised  seven  sections — viz.,  camp 
material,  clothing,  dressing  for  wounds,  sur- 
gical apparatus,  medicines  and  disinfectants, 
food  and  tobacco,  and  hospital  furnishings. 
Of  their  work  of  unparalleled  activity,  un- 
selfish devotion,  and  holy  beneficence  in  all 
wars  among  all  peoples,  from  their  iustitu- 


tion  to  the  present  moment,  there  is  neither 
time  nor  space  for  me  to  speak." 

The  Red  Cross  of  France  was  not  in  a  con- 
dition of  preparation  at  this  time  at  all  com- 
parable with  that  of  Germany.  France, 
which  has  conferred  upon  the  world  so 
many  of  its  greatest  hlessiugs — "  head  of  the 
human  column  "  in  philanthropies  as  in  oth- 
er greatest  things — followed  other  nations 
at  that  time,  and  has  since,  in  the  great 
movement  for  alleviating  the  horrors  of  war. 
The  preparations  of  the  Red  Cross  had  to  be 
made,  to  a  considerable  extent,  after  the  con- 
flict was  on  ;  but  then  with  the  utmost  ar- 
dor France  threw  herself  into  the  work. 
Within  a  month  a  thorough  system  was  set 
in  motion.  Committees  perfectly  equipped 
were  at  the  stations  as  the  tide  of  the  man- 
gled and  bleeding  began  to  roll  back  upon 
the  capital.  History  has  recorded  the  suf- 
ferings, the  horrors,  and  misery  which  ac- 
companied the  war  of  1870,  but  history  can 
never  relate  what  wretchedness  was  averted. 
•what  agonies  alleviated,  what  multitudes  of 
lives  saved,  by  the  presence  and  effort  of 
those  relief  societies!  What  the  state  of 
France  must  have  been  without  the  merci- 
ful help  of  the  Red  Cross,  the  imagination 
dares  not  picture. 


n 


The  states  of  Europe  at  peace  at  that  time 
were  also  stirred  to  bountiful  liberality.  Au 
outline  of  the  stupendous  work  of  the  soci- 
ety would  be  incomplete  without  an  allu- 
sion to  this  feature.  England  alone  con- 
tributed 7,500,000  francs,  and  within  a  few 
months  sent  12,000  boxes  of  sanitary  sup- 
plies to  the  agents  of  the  society. 

We  come  now  to  the  events  which  led  to 
the  formation  of  the  American  society.  And 
here  the  explanation  may  bo  given  which 
has  doubtless  been  looked  for  quite  curious- 
ly by  readers  of  this  paper — that  is,  why  an 
account  of  the  Red  Cross  Society  should  ap- 
pear at  all  in  a  volume  treating  of  Woman's 
Work  in  Philanthropy  ;  for,  so  far  as  has  yet 
appeared,  the  work  of  that  society  has  been 
the  work  of  men.  Indeed,  in  the  Old  World 
all  the  societies  are  officered  by  men  except 
those  of  Germany  and  Baden.  But  our 
American  society  has  for  its  president  a 
woman,  Miss  Clara  Barton,  and  about  three- 
fourths  of  its  entire  personnel  are  women. 

To  understand  the  history  of  the  Red 
Cross  in  America  we  must  first  understand 
something  of  the  history  of  Miss  Barton. 
For  with  such  quietness,  such  single-minded 
devotion  to  duty  alone,  has  her  work  been 
done,  that  —  astonishing  as  it  may  be  to 


too 


those  who  know  her  well  and  love  her — 
there  is  little  doubt  that  multitudes  even  iu 
our  own  laud  are  familiar  only  with  her 
name.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War, 
Miss  Barton,  then  a  young  woman,  was 
spending  some  time  iu  Washington.  When 
news  came  that  Northern  troops  en  route  to 
the  capital  had  been  fired  upon  and  wound- 
ed, iu  Baltimore,  she,  with  several  others, 
volunteered  to  go  and  care  for  them.  Her 
life-work  opened  before  her  that  day.  There- 
after she  was  in  the  hospitals,  and  wherever 
our  soldiers  were  sick  and  in  need  of  attend- 
ance. She  came  soon  to  be  recognized  as  a 
woman  of  no  common  ability  and  discretion. 
She  could  go  iu  her  quiet,  self-contained  way 
among  hospitals  and  camps  anywhere  iu 
Washington  unchallenged  by  the  closest 
stickler  for  routine  and  red  tape.  She  met 
the  wounded  as  they  poured  in  from  Vir- 
ginia, and  she  attended  them  upon  the  field. 
Military  trains  were  at  her  service.  She  \\  us 
present  at  the  battles  of  Cedar  Mountain, 
second  Bull  Run,  Antietam,  and  Fredericks- 
burg  ;  was  eight  mouths  at  the  siege  of 
Charleston,  at  Fort  Wagner,  in  front  of  Pe- 
tersburg, aud  at  the  Wilderness.  She  was 
also  at  the  hospitals  in  Richmond  and  on 
Morris  Island.  Her  labora  were  uot  over 


101 


even  when  the  war  ended ;  for,  in  obedience 
to  the  most  tender  of  human  sentiments,  she 
remained  at  Audersonville  five  years,  in  or- 
der to  mark  as  many  as  possible  of  the 
graves  of  the  thirteen  thousand  Union  pris- 
oners there  buried.  The  labor  involved  can 
hardly  be  imagined. 

When  this  Scicred  and  self-imposed  duty 
was  over  Miss  Barton  was  utterly  broken  in 
health.  Her  physicians  ordered  her  to  Eu- 
rope to  recuperate.  Health  was  still  unset- 
tled when,  during  the  Franco-Prussian  War, 
she  was  asked  to  join  the  relief  corps  of  the 
Red  Cross  in  the  field,  for  her  splendid  work 
during  the  war  at  home  was  well  known  in 
Europe.  She  did  heroic  service  on  most 
of  the  battle-fields  of  France  during  that 
war,  her  experience  and  her  knowledge  be- 
ing eagerly  sought. 

When,  in  1869,  it  became  known  that  Misa 
Barton  had  arrived  in  Geneva,  she  was  at 
once  called  upon  by  the  President  and  mem- 
bers of  the  International  Society  of  the  Red 
Cross.  They  came  to  ask  an  explanation 
of  the  anomalous  fact  that  the  United  States, 
which  had  shown  the  most  scrupulous  and 
tender  care  for  its  own  wounded,  organizing 
a  sanitary  service  on  a  scale  hitherto  uu- 
thought  of  the  world  over,  had  held  aloof 


102 


from  and  given  the  cold  shoulder  to  the  Red 
Cross. 

Miss  Barton  assured  these  gentlemen  that 
she  had  never  heard  of  the  society,  nor  of 
the  treaty  of  Geneva.  After  the  nature,  ob- 
jects, and  history  of  the  great  organization 
had  been  set  out  to  her,  she  told  her  visitors 
that  she  could  assure  them  that  the  United 
States — the  people  of  the  United  States — 
were  totally  ignorant  that  proposals  such  as 
they  alluded  to  had  ever  been  submitted  to 
our  Government ;  that  probably  they  had 
been  referred  to  some  department,  or  per- 
haps to  some  single  official,  who  did  not  see 
fit  to  present  them  to  our  people,  and  that 
therefore  the  United  States,  as  a  nation,  had 
never  heard  of  them. 

Miss  Barton's  great,  tender,  humanity-em- 
bracing heart  became  at  once  absorbed  in 
studying  the  Geneva  treaty  and  the  soci- 
eties under  it.  Of  course  she  was  aflame 
with  enthusiasm  and  love  for  it ;  aflame 
also  with  shame  that  the  United  States  was 
not  a  party  to  the  treaty — not  a  member  of 
a  world's  society  having  for  its  object  "the 
amelioration  of  the  condition  of  wounded 
soldiers  in  campaign  on  land  or  sea"  (the 
maritime  provision  being  added  subsequent 
to  the  original  treaty).  She  resolved  that  if 


103 


she  lived  to  see  her  native  land  again  sue 
would  give  herself  no  rest  until  she  had 
made  our  people  acquainted  with  the  treaty 
of  Geneva. 

In  regard  to  the  connection  of  our  country 
with  the  Red  Cross,  let  it  he  rememhered 
that  at  the  conference  of  1863  we  were  rep- 
resented hy  our  minister  at  Berne,  and  that 
proposals  were  sent  us  to  unite  in  the  meas- 
ures it  set  on  foot,  and  that  these  proposals 
were  disregarded.  Again,  after  a  conven- 
tion held  in  1868  in  Paris,  in  which  the 
United  States  was  represented  hy  Dr.  Henry 
W.  Bellows,  the  distinguished  head  of  tbe 
Sanitary  Commission,  the  subject  was  again 
presented  to  our  Government  hy  that  gen- 
tleman, and  articles  submitted.  Again, 
strangely  enough,  they  met  only  indifference. 
Throngh^the  efforts  of  Dr.  Bellows,  however, 
a  society  was  formed,  hut  it  lacked  the  feat- 
ure essential  to  success — the  sanction  and 
sympathy  of  Government.  This  society  was 
naturally  short-lived. 

We  come  to  the  events  which,  after  many 
long  years  of  indefatigable  effort  and  patri- 
otic devotion  on  the  part  of  one  tireless, 
patient  woman,  finally  led  to  the  formation 
of  the  Red  Cross  Society  of  America. 

Miss  Barton  came  home  after  the  war  in 


104 


Europe  was  over,  a  suffering  invalid.  She 
lay  for  years  upon  a  bed  of  weakness,  aud 
when  at  last  nature  rallied,  she  had  to  begin 
life  almost  like  a  little  child  and  acquire 
everything  anew,  even  the  power  to  walk. 
As  soon  as  she  was  able,  she  went  to  Wash- 
ington and  presented  the  subject  of  the 
Geneva  treaty  to  the  administration  of 
President  Hayes.  This  was  in  1877.  To 
give  form  and  definiteness,  the  cause  was 
bodied  forth  in  a  committee  consisting  of 
three  women  and  one  man.  Two  of  these 
are  still  living — Miss  Barton  and  Mr.  John 
Hitz,  a  gentleman  long  resident  at  the  Cap- 
itol as  the  representative  of  the  Swiss  Gov- 
ernment in  our  country,  of  large  brain,  su- 
perior executive  talent,  aud  the  kindest  and 
tenderest  heart. 

The  efforts  of  1877  were  fruitless,  winning 
no  response.  Not  until  four  years  later, 
when  another  Soldier -president  —  the  mar- 
tyred Garfield  —  was  in  the  chair,  did  the 
little  society,  brave  and  faith-sustained,  re- 
ceive assurances  of  sympathy  from  Govern- 
ment. The  lamented  Senator  Windoin  laid 
the  subject  before  the  Cabinet.  The  Presi- 
dent aud  all  his  Secretaries  were  at  once  cord- 
ially interested.  Secretary  of  State  Blaiuo, 
whoso  heart  beat  always  in  sympathy  with 


105 


the  heart  of  humanity,  \vith  a  mind  quick 
to  perceive,  and  a  hand  swift  to  do  the  thing 
demanded  to  be  done,  wrote  a  warm  letter 
of  approval,  and  the  President  recommended 
in  his  first  message  to  Congress  our  accession 
to  the  treaty.  This  was  seventeen  years 
after  the  first  presentation  of  the  subject  to 
our  Government.  The  society  of  1877  re- 
organized and  became  incorporated  as  tho 
American  Association  of  the  Red  Cross. 

But  tho  time  was  not  quite  yet.  Presi- 
dent Garfield  was  denied  the  happiness  of 
signing  the  Geneva  treaty.  This  was  re- 
served for  his  successor,  President  Arthur, 
who  nobly  and  promptly  took  up  the  work, 
incorporating  a  plea  for  it  in  his  first  mes- 
sage to  Congress.  The  Honorable  Commit- 
tee on  Foreign  Affairs  in  the  Senate,  of  whom 
were  Senators  Edmunds,  Morgan,  and  Lap- 
ham,  all  strong,  true  friends  of  the  cause, 
received  it  favorably.  The  accession  of  tho 
United  States  to  the  articles  of  the  Geneva 
convention  was  agreed  upon  by  Congress, 
and  the  treaty  received  the  signature  of 
President  Arthur  on  the  first  day  of  March, 
1882. 

A  modification  of  the  treaty,  some  change 
in  its  articles,  and  some  addition  thereto 
were  indispensable  in  order  to  adapt  it  to 


106 


the  needs  and  purposes  of  the  United  States. 
In  Europe  the  perpetual  and  ever-present 
condition  is  somewhat  that  of  a  colossal 
and  various  camp.  Peace,  even,  seems  more 
like  an  armed  trnce,  for  war  ever  menaces. 
So,  in  the  Old  World,  the  Red  Cross  has 
kept  its  first  purpose — that  of  caring  for  the 
•wounded  and  sick  of  belligerent  armies. 

But  the  United  States,  favored  above  other 
countries  by  geographical  and  political  situ- 
ation, is  comparatively  exempt  from  the  dan- 
ger of  war.  Partly  because  of  this  Heaven- 
bestowed  exemption,  and  partly  in  order  to 
secure  one  of  the  most  essential  conditions 
of  usefulness  in  Red- Cross  work — constant 
preparation  and  complete  discipline  in  time 
of  peace — it  was  deemed  indispensable  that 
her  constitution  should  permit  and  en- 
join work  other  tliau  that  pertaining  to 
armies.  Incorporated  among  the  articles  of 
the  treaty  is  a  distinctly  American  and  most 
important  feature.  It  is  that  our  society 
shall  have  for  one  of  its  objects  aids  to  the 
suffering  in  times  of  great  National  calam- 
ity, such  as  floods  and  cyclones — visitations 
to  which  we  are  peculiarly  liable  —  great 
fires,  pestilence,  earthquake,  local  famines. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  its  work  has  been 
exclusively  in  times  of  such  calamities. 


107 


Its  splendid  achievements  in  this  field  re- 
main to  be  told. 

Misfortunes  such  as  those  named  come  iu 
an  instant  and  without  warning.  To  pre- 
vent vast  and  untold  suffering  relief  must 
be  swift.  Therefore,  complete  provision  and 
preparation  are  essential.  When  the  word 
speeds  over  the  wires  that  fires  have  broken 
out  iu  the  forests  of  Michigan,  the  first  great 
disaster  after  the  society  came  into  being, 
and  that  thousands  are  fleeing  for  their 
lives  from  burning  dwellings,  and  are  with- 
out food — even  the  beasts  which  might  have 
served  them  being  driven  before  the  flame 
into  streams  and  lakes  —  the  President  of 
the  central  society  at  Washington  telegraphs 
the  committee  in  Milwaukee  and  Chicago 
to  hasten  to  the  scene.  Iu  a  few  hours  they 
are  en  route.  She,  with  her  own  assistants, 
also,  and  as  many  from  other  auxiliaries  as 
she  thiuks  necessary,  at  once  set  out.  Am- 
ple supplies  are  drawn  upon  and  cars 
loaded  with  everything  which  can  possibly 
be  wanted.  The  primary  needs  of  men  are 
to  be  provided  for.  Tools  and  material  for 
putting  up  cabins  are  on  board  ,*  clothes, 
beds,  bedding,  cooking -utensils,  tubs,  soap, 
oil,  tables  and  chairs,  are  part  of  the  cargo. 
Arrived,  they  quietly,  without  confusion,  set 


108 


to  work  to  organize  the  men  and  women  on 
the  ground  into  working  committees.  They 
know  just  wh.it  needs  doing  first,  and  sec- 
ond, and  third.  By  their  thorough  system, 
aided  by  the  recognition  and  ruspect  which 
their  calmness  and  their  resources  inspire, 
the  most  urgent  needs  of  the  panic-stricken 
people  are  provided  for  in  the  shortest  pos- 
sible time.  This  accomplished,  men  and  wom- 
en begin  to  recover  the  use  of  their  facul- 
ties, and  can  cast  about  to  do  for  themselves. 
Weeks  and  months,  when  necessary,  the 
Red  Cross  committees  stay,  expending  their 
money,  counselling,  sustaining,  helping  the 
impoverished  so  that  they  can  again  begin 
to  live  and  support  their  families. 

Twelve  great  national  calamities  have 
claimed  the  services  of  the  Red  Cross.  Next 
after  the  Michigan  fires  came  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  floods  of  1882,  then  the  Missis- 
sippi cyclone  ;  again  the  floods  of  1884  ;  the 
Virginia  epidemic  ;  the  Texas  drought ;  the 
Charleston  earthquake  ;  the  Mt.  Vernon  (Il- 
linois) cyclone,  and  the  great  Johnstown 
disaster.  lu  addition  to  these,  it  ministered 
also  to  the  peasants  of  Russia  during  the 
great  famine.  Time  would  fail  should  one 
attempt  to  describe  the  work  of  the  society 
in  these  times  of  distress.  When  the  great 


109 


floods  in  tlio  Ohio  ami  Mississippi  valleys 
occurred,  and  it  was  ascertained  that  wide- 
spread suffering  existed,  Miss  Barton  sent  a 
notice  to  the  Associated  Press  that  the  Red 
Cross  would  go  to  the  rescue.  Immediately 
supplies  and  money  by  thousands  poured  in. 
She,  with  her  staff,  including  Dr.  Hubbell, 
who,  as  field -agent,  is  her  right  hand,  and 
Mr.  Hitz,  her  trusted  aud  efficient  assistant, 
started  for  St.  Louis.  Here  boats  are  char- 
tered and  loaded  with  every  description  of 
supplies,  including  forage  for  cattle.  Down 
the  Ohio  and  interminable  Mississippi  they 
steam,  stopping  all  along  at  villages  aud 
cities  where  want  is  known  to  prevail. 
Quickly  the  citizens  are  called  together,  aud 
a  committee  organized  to  distribute  the  sup- 
plies. Native  insight  and  life-long  experi- 
ence enable  Miss  Barton  to  choose  safely 
among  these  strangers.  Everything  is  be-, 
stowed  which  is  needed,  aud  the  boat  steams 
on.  The  first  that  the  inhabitants  of  these 
places  know  of  relief,  or  of  the  Red  Cross,  is 
•when  the  boat  with  the  magical  emblem 
draws  up  to  their  shores,  and  Miss  Barton — 
the  same  blazon  upon  her  arm — steps  ashore 
aud  begins  to  assemble  the  people  to  in- 
quire what  is  most  wanted.  Truly,  she 
must  seeiu  to  these  stricken  people,  dazed 


110 


by  sadden  calamity,  like  a  being  from  an- 
other planet. 

No  better  occasion  has  occurred  to  illus- 
trate the  methods  and  also  the  magnificent 
bounty  of  the  Red  Cross  than  the  unparal- 
leled horror  iu  the  Couemangh  Valley.  The 
first  train  from  the  East  brought  the  Presi- 
dent and  fifty  aides,  and  with  them  ev- 
erything imaginable  which  human  beings 
could  need  who  were  stripped  of  their  all. 
Establishing  themselves  in  tents,  they  be- 
gan giving  out  food;  a  house-to-house,  a 
man-to-man  inspection  being  set  up,  that  all 
might  be  provided  for.  Such  was  the  per- 
fect and  universal  confidence  in  the  society 
that  money  and  supplies  continued  to  come, 
and  soon  depots  had  to  be  erected  to  re- 
ceive them.  The  secretary  brought  to- 
gether the  women  of  Johnstown,  bowed  to 
the  earth  with  sorrow  and  bereavement,  and 
the  most  responsible  were  formed  into  com- 
mittees charged  with  definite  duties  towards 
the  homeless  and  distraught  of  the  com- 
munity. Through  them  the  wants  of  over 
3000  families — more  than  20,000  persons — 
were  made  known  in  writing  to  the  li<  <l 
Cross,  and  by  it  supplied ;  the  white  w;i-- 
ons  with  the  red  symbol  fetching  and  car- 
rying for  the  stricken  people.  Barracks 


Ill 


were  erected  in  which  large  numbers  were 
housed  and  fed ;  then  came  the  erection  of 
two  and  fonr  roomed  dwellings,  and  the 
people,  set  in  families  once  more,  began 
to  live,  furniture  being  supplied  by  the  so- 
ciety. A  hospital  was  arranged  —  warm, 
light,  and  comfortable.  All  these  buildings 
were,  in  the  autumn,  turned  over  to  the  city 
for  use  during  the  winter.  Miss  Barton 
and  her  corps  remained  till  the  last  of  Oc- 
tober—  four  months  —  in  the  devastated, 
sorrow -stricken  city.  Among  the  most 
melting  words  ever  written  are  those  in 
the  Johnstown  papers  of  that  date  in  re- 
gard to  the  Red  Cross  Society  and  its  deeds 
in  that  city. 

The  vital  idea  of  the  Red  Cross  is  not 
charity — it  scorns  the  word — but  friendli- 
ness, helpfulness.  It  is  a  privilege  to  do 
for  those  in  trouble ;  they  are  neighbors  in 
the  Good  Samaritan  sense  :  in  a  word,  hu- 
man brotherhood  is  their  creed,  and  nothing 
less  than  the  true  law  of  love  as  given  by 
Jesus  Christ  their  animating  principle. 

In  March,  1893,  the  American  Society  re- 
ceived a  long -desired  and  welcome  gift. 
Dr.  Joseph  Gardner,  of  Bedford,  Indiana, 
presented  to  it  a  tract  of  land  comprising 
more  than  one  square  mile,  with  buildings, 


112 


fruit  trees,  and  all  appurtenances  of  a  fertile 
and  beautiful  farm.  In  accepting  this  gift, 
Miss  Barton  says:  "This  laud,  as  the  prop- 
erty of  the  American  National  Red  Cross, 
will  be  the  one  piece  of  neutral  ground  on 
the  Western  hemisphere,  protected  by  in- 
ternational treaty  against  the  tread  of  hos- 
tile feet.  It  is  a  perpetual  sanctuary  against 
invading  armies,  and  will  be  so  respected 
and  held  sacred  by  the  military  powers  of 
the  world.  Forty  nations  are  pledged  to 
hold  all  material  and  stores  of  the  Red 
Cross,  and  all  its  followers,  neutral  in  war, 
and  free  to  go  and  come  as  their  duties 
require. 

"While  its  business  headquarters  will 
remain  as  before  at  the  capital  of  the  Na- 
tion, the  gift  still  forms  a  realization  of  the 
hopes  so  long  cherished — that  the  National 
Red  Cross  may  have  a  place  to  accumulate 
and  produce  material  and  stores  for  sudden 
emergencies  and  great  calamities ;  and  if 
war  should  come  upon  our  laud,  which  may 
God  avert,  wo  may  be  able  to  fulfil  the 
mission  that  onr  adhesion  to  the  Geneva 
treaty  has  made  binding  upon  us. 

"  I  will  direct  that  monuments  be  erected 
defining  the  boundaries  of  this  domain, 
dedicated  to  eternal  peace  and  humanity, 


113 


upon  which  shall  bo  inscribed  the  insignia 
of  the  treaty  of  Geneva,  which  insignia  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  are  bound  by  sol- 
emn covenant  to  respect. 

"  Not  only  our  people,  but  the  peoples  of 
all  civilized  nations  will  have  published  to 
their  knowledge  that  the  American  Nation- 
al Red  Cross  has  a  house  and  a  recognized 
abiding-place  through  all  generations. 

"  For  this  I  have  striven  for  years,  mainly 
misunderstood,  often  misinterpreted,  and  it 
is  through  your  clear  intuition  and  humane 
thought  that  the  clouds  have  been  swept 
away  and  my  hopes  have  been  realized." 

The  writer  lingers  lovingly  about  her 
subject  when  writing  of  that  consecrated 
woman,  Clara  Barton.  Her  superb  execu- 
tive ability  must  have  impressed  all  who 
meet  her.  She  influences  and  controls  men 
and  women  not  so  much  because  of  native 
gifts  of  leadership,  as  because  of  elevation 
of  character,  strong  convictions,  and  high 
purposes.  In  person  and  manner  she  is 
gentle  and  womanly,  her  voice  sweet  and 
feminine  j  but  that  she  is  an  unusual,  pecul- 
iar woman,  every  one  feels  who  meets  her. 
That  which  is  deeply  borne  in  upon  the 
mind  is  that  she  is  totally  without  fear ; 
that  the  "  custom  "  which  lies  upon  the  rest 

8 


114 


of  us  with  such  a  weight  lies  not  at  all  upon 
her;  that  for  some  deep  reason  she  is  a  wom- 
an apart.  She  is  law  to  her  staff,  and  is  wor- 
shipped by  them. 

A  life  devoted  wholly  to  the  highest  ob- 
jects, a  heart  single  to  the  service  of  human- 
ity, time,  health,  and  fortune  given  without 
stint  and  without  hope  of  earthly  reward — 
history  cannot  fail  to  place  her  high  on  the 
roll  of  those  who  love  God  supremely,  and 
Ler  neighbor  as  herself. 

In  a  little  casket  in  Miss  Barton's  room 
lie  some  few  jewels,  badges  of  orders,  gifts 
from  royal  persons,  societies,  and  benefi- 
ciaries, visible  testimonials  of  love,  grati- 
tude, and  appreciation — a  Court  jewel  from 
the  Grand-duchess  of  Baden,  a  medal  from 
the  Queen  of  Italy,  a  badge  from  the  Queeu 
of  Servia;  the  Iron  Cross  of  Merit — given 
only  for  heroic  deeds  of  kindness — from  old 
Kaiser  Wilhelm,  and  some  other  decora- 
tions. A  beautiful  brooch  and  pendant  of 
diamonds  testify  to  the  abounding  grati- 
tude and  love  of  the  people  of  Johnstown. 

The  Central  Society  of  the  Red  Cross  is 
housed  in  Washington  in  a  manner  becoming 
its  importance.  It  occupies  a  large,  hand- 
some mansion,  dignified  by  age  and  by  histor- 
ic associations,  having  been  during  the  Civil 


War  the  headquarters  of  General  Grant 
Its  interior  walls  are  covered  with  flags  of 
many  nations,  the  crimson  banner  of  Switz- 
erland occupying  the  place  of  honor.  The 
house  looks  out  on  Grand  Army  Place  and 
ou  the  beautiful  mail  to  the  rear  of  the 
White  House,  and  directly  fronts  the  mag- 
nificent edifice  of  the  War  Department. 
The  expenses  of  this  establishment,  as  well 
as  those  of  Miss  Barton  herself,  are  defrayed 
from  her  private  fortune. 

From  the  tower  of  this  mansion  floats  the 
white  flag,  emblazoned  with  its  sacred 
symbol,  signifying  to  all  the  world  that  the 
United  States  is  in  league  with  thirty-nine 
other  peoples  of  the  earth  to  promote  hu- 
man brotherhood,  and  thus  to  help  bring  in 
the  reign  of  peace. 


THE  INDIAN. 

(First  Paper.) 

BY  MRS.  AMELIA  STONE  QUINTON,  PRESIDENT 
OF  THE  WOMEN'S  NATIONAL  INDIAN  ASSO 

CIATION. 

OF  the  many  reasons  which  inspired  the 
formation  of  the  Women's  National  Indian 
Association  tlie  most  cogent  were  that  it 
was  not  in  law  a  crime  to  kill  an  Indian, 
and  that  he  had  no  rights  which  the  white 
man  was  bound  to  respect.  He  was  still 
subject  to  enforced  removals  from  his  own 
land;  he  was  constantly  robbed;  the  United 
States  Indian  agent  had  despotic  power  over 
him,  and  could  suspend  all  trade  on  the  res 
ervation,  could  suspend  the  chief,  and  drive 
off  or  arrest  all  visitors  whose  presence  he 
might  not  approve  or  desire.  The  Indian 
could  not  make  contracts;  he  could  not  him- 
self sell  anything  he  could  raise  or  manu- 
facture, except  to  the  trader  appointed  by 
Government ;  he  had  no  legal  title  or  inter- 
est in  the  annual  productions  of  the  soil ;  ho 
was  banished  to  wild  reservations,  and  re- 


117 


quired  to  farm  when  farming  was  impossible 
even  to  instructed  farmers,  and  at  the  same 
time  he  was  deprived  of  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion for  hunting,  and  was  then  forbidden  to 
leave  the  reservation  !  The  white  man  sup- 
planted him  in  trapping  and  hunting,  in  (he 
seal  and  salmon  fisheries  of  the  Pacific  coast ; 
and  though  the  Indian  was  a  natural  herder 
of  cattle,  it  was  made  a  felony  for  him  to 
sell  them.  Our  nation  practically  prohibited 
all  lines  of  work  natural  to  him,  and  falsified 
its  promises  to  furnish  him  means  for  farming 
— the  one  kind  of  labor  prescribed  and  insist- 
ed upon.  There  was  ceaseless  oppression, 
and  all  these  crimes  burn  with  a  lurid  light 
in  the  records  of  our  dealings  with  Indians. 
How  great  a  debt  to  the  Indian  has  our  na- 
tion contracted  by  all  these  crimes  against 
his  natural  rights,  his  manhood,  his  human- 
ity !  And  many  of  these  wrongs  still  exist. 
The  agitation  of  this  subject  was  at  last 
popularly  begun  in  1879,  by  the  work  now 
known  as  that  of  The  Women's  National  Ind- 
ian Association,  and  this  was  the  first  or- 
ganization devoted  to  this  object.  The  Ind- 
ian Rights  Association,  organized  by  Herbert 
Welsh,  Esq.,  began  its  admirable  and  efficient 
service  just  as  the  fourth  annual  petition  of 
the  women's  society  was  ready  for  Congress. 


118 


It  was  the  persistent  appeals  of  this  women's 
society  to  all  classes  of  citizens,  by  petitions 
and  assemblies,  political,  philanthropic,  and 
religions — and  its  work  through  the  press — 
which  originated  the  modern  popular  move- 
ment on  behalf  of  Indians  *  audit  was  these 
efforts  with  those  of  the  Indian  Rights  As- 
sociation and  other  friends  of  Indians,  com- 
bined with  the  great  work  of  Senator  Dawes, 
wbicb,  in  March,  1887,. secured  the  passage 
of  the  Dawes  Severalty  Bill  which  forever 
opened  the  door  of  United  States  citizenship 
to  the  red  man  and  gave  to  him  lauds  in 
severalty  with  legal  protection.  Tbe  As- 
sociation's second  petition  asked  for  all  the 
rights  of  Indians,  and  it  was  its  third  peti- 
tion, in  February,  1882,  which  asked  for  the 
common  scbool  and  industrial  education  of 
all  Indian  children,  for  lands  in  severalty, 
and  citizenship.  Of  the  Association's  ear- 
nest, persistent,  and  widely  extended  agita- 
tion of  this  subject,  Senator  Dawes,  long 
chairman  of  the  Senate  Indian  Committee, 
said  that  "  the  new  Indian  policy  of  gov- 
ernment" now  everywhere  approved  was 
born  of  and  nursed  by  the  women  of  this 
Association." 

The  chief  work  of  the  Association  is  done 
by  national  standing  committees  or  depart- 


119 


ments,  by  State  auxiliaries  and  their  local 
branches.  The  general  organization  is  fed- 
eral and  simple. 

Any  group  of  persons  interested  can  form 
themselves  into  an  Indian  Association,  and 
on  applying  to  the  national  Executive  Board 
can  be  received,  if  willing  to  adopt  some  of 
the  Association's  lines  of  labor  and  to  work 
iu  harmony  with  it.  Its  literature  and  fur- 
ther instructions  can  be  had  from  the  Corre- 
sponding Secretary.  A  simpler  organization, 
iu  cases  where  a  fully  organized  association 
is  not  practicable,  is  the  formation  of  an  Ind- 
ian Committee,  by  a  vote  of  any  meeting 
called  to  hear  of  tho  work  of  this  Associa- 
tion, and  such  committee  needs  but  a  chair- 
man, secretary,  and  treasurer.  It  need  not 
have  a  constitution  or  regular  meeting.  To 
meet  when  called  by  the  chairman  for  some 
special  work  contemplated,  or  when  an  in- 
teresting speaker  can  be  obtained,  would 
suffice.  Such  a  committee  should  enroll  as 
contributing  members  all  who  give  any  sum 
whatever  for  the  work  of  the  local  or  na- 
tional organization ',  the  members  should 
spread  intelligence  of  the  needs  of  Indians 
and  invite  friends  to  aid  with  gifts;  should 
insert  facts  on  the  Indian  situation  in  local 
papers,  and,  at  need,  send  letters  and  peti- 


120 


tions  to  their  Representatives  in  Congress  on 
behalf  of  just  Indian  legislation,  or  against 
unjust  measures  under  consideration.  They 
could  provide  a  box  of  clothing  or  other 
supplies  for  a  needy  tribe.  In  every  com 
munity  there  are  doubtless  some  who  would 
esteem  it  a  privilege  thus  to  help  finish  the 
work  needed  for  our  native  heathen,  and  in 
discharge  of  a  debt  which  all  citizens  of  this 
country  owe  to  the  aboriginal  race  whose 
oppression  and  cruel  treatment  all  with 
shame  recognize  and  deplore.  This  kind  of 
Indian  work  can  be  done  in  the  smallest 
village  or  rural  neighborhood,  and  the  small 
gifts  of  many  helpers  would  make  an  ag- 
gregate which  would  enable  the  Wom- 
en's National  Indian  Association  soon  to 
supply  with  missions  the  destitute  tribes 
and  separated  parts  of  tribes.  We  have 
forty-eight  States  and  Territories,  a  number 
amply  able  to  furnish  the  help  now  lacking 
if  each  State  were  during  a  year  to  furnish 
means  to  open  but  one  new  mission,  or  about 
$1500. 

What  is  the  work  of  the  Women's  Nation- 
al Indian  Association  f  It  is  the  work  of 
informing  the  public  of  the  needs,  capabili- 
ties, and  progress  of  our  native  Indians,  and 
also  it  is  the  work  of  moving  the  Govern- 


121 


mont,  by  direct  .appeals,  to  render  just  help 
to  them.  It  also  points  out  ho\v  Indians 
may  wisely  be  helped  industrially,  educa- 
tionally, morally,  and  religiously,  and  it  seeks 
to  win  such  help  for  them. 

Second,  it  is  the  work  of  sending  helpers 
to  reside  among  Indians  to  labor  for  their 
instruction  and  elevation,  to  assist  them  in 
home -building,  in  special  and  professional 
education,  by  hospital  work,  and  in  all  other 
practical  and  practicable  ways. 

The  first  of  the  above  services  is  rendered 
by  the  circulation  of  literature  and  petitions, 
by  work  through  the  press,  by  public  meet- 
ings, and  Legislative  work  actively  done  for 
the  past  fourteen  years. 

The  Missionary  Department  was  intro- 
duced in  1884,  and  remembering  that  many 
tribes  have  waited  more  than  a  hundred 
years  in  vain  for  the  gospel,  its  object  is  to 
supply  all  destitute  tribes  and  separated 
parts  of  tribes  of  this  country  with  a  good 
mission.  This  work,  with  Government  ap- 
proval and  aid  on  its  own  lines,  and  done 
only  in  tribes  and  portions  of  tribes  where  no 
mission  work  is  "being  done  by  any  church  or 
denominational  society  or  missionaries,  has  the 
plan  of  transferring  each  station  and  of  giv- 
ing its  mission  property,  land,  cottage,  and 


122 


chapel  to  sonic  one  of  the  permanent  socie- 
ties as  soon  as  one  of  these  will  accept  it  for 
permanent  work.  In  this  way  the  Associa- 
tion helps  all  the  great  missionary  organiza- 
tions by  the  process  of  securing  the  missions 
which  these  societies  are  not  at  present  finan- 
cially able  to  inaugurate. 

As  defined  to  its  workers  this  missionary 
work  is  to  teach  Indians  to  make  and  prop- 
erly keep  comfortable  homes;  to  teach  them 
domestic  work  and  arts ;  to  prepare  food 
and  make  clothing;  to  care  for  the  sick  and 
for  children  ;  to  respect  work  and  to  become 
self  -  supporting  ;  to  influence  and  to  help 
them  to  learn  the  English  language ;  and 
above  all,  to  teach  them  the  truths  .of  the 
gospel,  and  to  seek  their  conversion  to 
practical  Christianity.  This  pioneer  work, 
done  by  the  Association  as  a  whole  or  by 
its  State  auxiliaries,  is  such  as  is  done  in 
our  great  cities,  and  includes  house-to-honso 
visitation,  day  and  Sunday-schools,  instruc- 
tion in  temperance  and  the  other  moral- 
ities, and  religious  teaching.  This  work  in 
the  tribes  finds  the  individuals  who  desire 
and  are  worthy  of  special  education,  and 
those  who  can  well  use  loan  funds  for  homo 
building,  and  for  the  purchase  of  implements, 
sewing-machines,  and  furuituro.  It  also 


123 


sees  the  political  and  other  wrongs  needing 
redress  at  the  agencies,  and  often  goes  far 
towards  finding  the  remedies  for  these.  Our 
missionary  work  also  furnishes  boxes  of 
clothing  and  goods  where  these  can  be  wise- 
ly used,  aud  sent  such  aid  to  thirty  tribes 
last  year.  Other  gifts,  such  as  hardware 
and  ploughs,  have  been  sent  to  a  few  whom 
Government  could  not  or  did  not  supply, 
and  the  surprise  and  delight  of  the  recip- 
ients were  a  serrnou  to  see. 

The  Home-building  work  adopted  by  the 
Association  in  1885  is  an  interesting  depart- 
ment, and  has  builded  or  well-repaired,  by 
loan  funds,  fifty  to  sixty  homes  which  have 
changed  the  lives  of  probably  a  hundred 
Indians,  aud  have  been  centres  of  light,  civ- 
ilization, and  right  influence  in  the  various 
tribes  where  they  have  been  planted. 
Loaned  funds  have  done  a  beneficent  service 
also  in  the  purchase  of  implements  and  kin- 
dred helps  to  civilization,  in  awakening 
right  ambitions,  aud  in  the  development  of 
Indian  capabilities;  and  the  debts  thus  in- 
curred have  been  paid  even  more  promptly 
than  could  reasouably  have  been  expected. 
Assistance  of  this  sort  has  been  given  to  the 
Omahas,  Winuebagoes,  Kiowas,  Sioux,  Dako- 
tas,  Cheyenues,  Arapahoes,  Hoopas,  Nook- 


sachks,  and  Alaskans.  Loans  of  from  two 
to  five  hundred  dollars  have  been  made 
to  enable  Indians  to  build  homes,  and  small- 
er sums,  varying  from  five  to  one  hundred 
dollars,  have  been  furnished  to  assist  appli- 
cants in  the  purchase  of  farming  implements, 
horses,  harness,  crockery,  window  -  glass, 
doors,  small  hardware,  clothing,  cooking 
utensils,  etc.,  etc. 

Our  Educational  Work  has  been  domestic 
and  industrial  largely,  and  has  been  done  in 
evening  schools,  though  three  day  schools  in 
destitute  places  have  been  conducted  with 
the  aid  of  Government.  The  work  of  aiding 
bright  Indians  in  professional  education  has 
also  been  served  by  the  Special  Education 
Committee,  elected  November,  1888,  and  by 
individuals  or  auxiliaries,  or  by  joint  gifts 
of  branches.  One  of  those  who  received  such 
education,  and  the  first  Indian  woman  phy- 
sician, is  Dr.  Susan  La  Flesche,  now  Govern- 
ment physician  among  her  people,  the  Oma- 
has.  Others  have  been  aided  in  medical 
education  or  trained  as  nnrses,  while  others 
have  been  aided  to  prepare  for  teaching,  or 
for  other  work  among  their  own  people. 

The  department  of  Indian  Libraries  has 
wrought  wide  benefit,  providing  reading- 
matter  for  returned  Indian  students,  for 


reading-rooms  on  reservations,  and  in  the 
schools  and  chapels.  Already  there  are 
seventy-five  Indian  schools  into  which  peri- 
odicals are  going,  and  these  are  doing  much  to 
Americanize  the  young  Indians.  One  superin- 
tendent says :  "  If  you  could  see  the  children 
at  Kakouiish  devouring  the  St.  Nicholas  and 
Century  pictures,  you  would  realize  the  de- 
gree in  which  you  are  aiding  our  work.  It 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  their  little  stock 
of  literature  is  opening  a  new  life  to  them. 
Its  effect  is  so  important  that  I  would  hard- 
ly call  it  an  adjunct  to  their  school-work — 
rather  a  complement.  It  is  inciting  them 
to  what  we  wish  above  all  things,  conversa- 
tion iu  English.  It  gives  them  an  interest 
in  American  affairs.  Even  the  handling  of 
one  of  the  best  magazines  with  its  excellent 
illustrations,  has  a  great  influence  on  a 
child." 

Hospital  Work  was  adopted  as  a  depart- 
ment in  1890.  Miss  Porter,  who  had  been 
head-nurse  at  Hampton  Institute  for  nine 
years,  went  to  Crow  Creek  as  "  field  matron  " 
for  the  winter.  In  accepting  this  Govern- 
ment position  her  salary  was  secured,  and 
she  was  allowed  to  visit  freely  among  the 
Indians.  Her  work  was  primarily  to  care 
for  the  sick,  but  it  necessarily  led  to  thorough 


120 


knowledge  of  the  physical  condition  and 
needs  of  the  people,  and  gave  good  opportu- 
nities for  teaching  them  simple  rules  of 
health. 

The  Young  People's  Department,  added  iu 
1889,  has  enlisted  vigorous  assistance  from 
many  bands  of  young  people  who  have  sent 
gifts  and  important  contributions  of  liter- 
ature, besides  widely  advertising  Indian 
needs  and  methods  of  supplying  them  The 
supply  of  work  for  all  existing  societies  and 
all  prospective  ones  is  at  present  inexhaust- 
ible, and  the  variety  equally  so.  All  ages 
and  talents  can  find  occupation  in  provid- 
ing help  through  all  our  departments.  Mis- 
sionaries' cottages  want  carpet  or  rugs,  fur- 
niture, pictures,  and  bright  fancy  articles, 
to  make  them  attractive  homes.  These  need 
not  always  be  new  or  cost  much  money.  A 
little  judicious  begging  will  frequently  bring 
encouraging  results. 

More  than  eighty  thousand  allotments  of 
land  have  been  made  or  are  in  process  of 
completion,  including  those  which  antedate 
the  severally  law,  about  twenty  thousand 
allotments  having  been  made  since  the  law 
was  enacted.  The  Indians  holding  these 
allotments  have  pfissed  out  of  helpless  sav- 
age relations  into  the  status  of  free  men, 


127 


under  our  Hag,  and  the  path  to  this  all-in- 
cluding privilege  is  now  open  to  all  of  the 
.aboriginal  race  among  us.  To  help  the  great 
majority  of  those  who  have  not  yet  beeu 
able  to  avail  themselves  of  the  new  privi- 
lege, and  still  further  to  confirm  in  civiliza- 
tion, and  aid  in  development  the  twenty 
thousand  new  Indian  citizens,  are  two  rea- 
sons why  we  still  labor  as  an  Association  on 
their  behalf. 

The  economy  of  missionary  work  will  be 
seen  from  an  official  statement  that  "  In 
seven  years  it  cost  the  United  States  $1,848,- 
000  for  the  support  of  1200  Dakota  Indians 
in  a  savage  state.  The  cost  for  seven  years 
after  they  were  Christianized  was  $120,000 ; 
a  saving  of  $1,728,000,  or  $246,857  per  an- 
num." 

The  result  is  that  during  the  last  eight 
years  twenty-five  mission  stations  have  been 
established,  directly  or  indirectly,  and  have 
beeu  transferred,  and  are  now  in  Methodist, 
Episcopal,  Baptist,  Presbyterian,  United 
Presbyterian,  or  Moravian  care;  and  these 
are  located  in  Indian  Territory,  in  North 
and  South  Dakota,  Nebraska,  California, 
Idaho,  and  Florida.  In  the  two  Dakotas 
alone  there  are,  by  Dr.  Dorchester's  Report, 
not  less  than  eleven  thousand  Indians  in 


128 


connection  with  Christian  churches,  and  the 
year-books  of  the  denominations  contain 
statistics  which  are  ample  encouragement  to 
undertake  all  needed  missions  among  them. 
There  are  still  about  sixty  Indian  agents, 
and  these  have,  even  at  this  late  date,  often 
too  great  power  for  the  safety  of  any  race 
under  them.  These  agents  have  been  ap- 
pointed almost  wholly  for  political  services 
rendered,  rather  than  for  fitness  for  the  work 
of  civilizing  a  savage  people,  and  great  ef- 
fort is  still  needed  for  reform  in  the  method 
of  appointing  important  Indian  officials, 
though  Civil  Service  Reform  has  already 
been  applied  to  many  classes  of  appoint- 
ments in  the  Indian  service.  To  labor  for 
the  speediest  wise  abolition  of  agents  and 
agencies;  to  gain  the  application  of  Civil 
Service  Reform  to  all  Indian  officials  while 
these  are  needed ;  to  help  guard  Indian  in- 
terests from  fraud ;  to  help  move  Govern- 
ment to  provide  irrigation  in  regions  where 
Indian  agriculture  is  impossible  without  it; 
to  aid  in  securing  appropriations  for  the  ed- 
ucation of  all  Indians  of  school  age ;  and  to 
move  American  Christians  to  place  Chris- 
tian missions  within  reach  of  all  Indians, 
are  other  reasons  for  the  continuance  of  our 
work. 


THE  INDIAN— A  WOMAN  AMONG  THE 
INDIANS. 

(Second  Paper.) 
BY  MRS.  ELAINE  GOODALE  EASTMAN. 

I  HAVE  been  asked  to  present  the  Indian 
question  from  a  woman's  stand-point — "the 
stand-point  of  a  woman  whose  knowledge  is 
immediate  and  personal."  Therefore  I  make 
no  apology  for  a  recital  of  personal  expe- 
rience. I  have  observed,  also,  that  most 
people  prefer  to  hear  facts  rather  than  gen- 
eralizations, and  that  a  story  is  more  inter- 
esting than  a  theory.  I  have  been  in  the 
Indian  work  for  nine  years,  and  was,  during 
most  of  that  time,  by  my  own  choice,  im- 
mediately associated  with  the  people  for 
whom  I  was  working.  I  began  as  a  teacher 
in  an  Eastern  school,  and  very  soon,  desir- 
ing a  nearer  glimpse  of  Indian  life,  visited 
eight  Indian  Agencies  in  Dakota  during  the 
vacation.  Struck  by  the  crying  need  of 
more  and  better  workers  in  the  Goveru- 

9 


130 


ment  schools,  especially  in  the  small  "camp 
schools,"  I  chose  my  new  field  in  a  wild 
Sioux  village,  on  the  Missouri  River,  where 
there  was  a  deserted  shell  of  a  school-house, 
but  no  school  for  eight  years.  I  went  there 
with  a  friend,  and  we  worked  for  two  years 
together  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm,  act- 
ually enjoying  the  hardships,  difficulties,  and 
successes  of  our  pioneer  life.  We  both  as- 
siduously studied  the  Dakota  language,  and 
found  it  an  invaluable  aid  to  confidence  and 
success.  She  assisted  me  in  teaching  the 
school  of  forty  to  fifty  children,  and  I  helped 
her  in  the  duties  of  a  missionary,  to  which 
she  was  appointed,  holding  women's  meet- 
ings and  prayer  meetings,  teach  ing  Sunday- 
school,  instructing  classes  for  baptism,  visit- 
ing the  sick  (and,  indeed,  visiting  every  body), 
and  giving  the  women  such  aid  and  sug- 
gestion in  house-keeping,  cooking,  sewing, 
and  domestic  science  generally  as  is  now 
given  by  the  "field-matrons"  appointed  by 
Government.  I  look  back  with  a  great  deal 
of  pleasure  and  satisfaction  upon  the  three 
years  I  lived  at  "  White  River  Lodge,"  as  we 
called  our  cosey  cabin.  (I  stayed  one  year 
after  my  friend  left  me,  calling  upon  a  near 
relative  to  fill  her  place.)  I  became  strongly 
attached  to  the  people  there,  and  I  think  I 


131 


won  their  affection  and  respect.  There  were 
about  two  hundred  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren in  our  village,  and  all  except  two  or 
three  (who  had  attended  the  same  Eastern 
school  where  we  had  served  as  teachers) 
were  called  wild,  or  "  blanket,"  Indians. 
There  are  no  Indians  nowadays  on  the  res- 
ervations who  live  a  really  wild  life.  These 
nearly  all  possessed  rude  log -cabins,  plas- 
^ered  with  mud  and  roofed  with  sods,  upon 
which  flourished  the  wild  sunflower  and 
other  weeds ;  although  they  wisely  improved 
the  hot  weather  by  occupying  the  cooler 
and  cleaner  "teepees"  of  white  cotton  cloth. 
They  drew  rations  at  the  Agency  once  a 
week,  and  the  journey  consumed  two  or 
three  days  out  of  seven.  They  also  eked  out 
their  scanty  supplies  by  cultivating  small 
patches  of  land ;  indeed,  there  were  some 
really  fine  wheat-fields  in  the  river-bottotus, 
as  well  as  flourishing  gardens  of  corn,  mel- 
ons, etc.  It  is  true  that  the  Indians  worked 
in  a  fashion  which  seems  to  us  like  playing 
at  work.  A  man  Avho  wanted  his  five-acre 
lot  ploughed  would  call  all  his  neighbors 
together  for  a  plonghing-bee.  After  wast- 
ing a  great  deal  of  time  in  getting  together, 
in  catching  the  ponies  and  mending  the 
harness  and  "  preparing  to  begin,"  all  would 


132 


toil  enthusiastically  for  an  hour  or  two,  then 
sit  down  and  smoke  for  another  hour,  then 
another  spurt  of  exertion,  and,  finally,  an 
abundant  picnic  dinner,  at  which  plenty  of 
boys  and  idlers  appeared,  would  close  the 
day.  And  yet,  when  the  small  inducement 
to  labor  is  considered,  and  the  difficulties 
under  which  it  is  performed,  and,  above  all, 
the  fact  that  it  is  not  really  necessary,  one 
may  rather  wonder  that  the  Agency  Indian 
works  at  all. 

With  the  women  it  is  quite  different. 
They,  too,  are  cheerful  and  gregarious,  and 
spend  a  great  deal  of  time  in  gossip  and 
visiting,  but  they  are  certainly  industrious 
and  systematic  in  comparison  with  the  men. 
They  no  longer  do  the  field-work,  but  may 
still  be  seen  carrying  wood  and  water,  and 
performing  other  tasks  which  seem  to  us  to 
be  drudgery,  but  are  light  to  them  beside 
the  complex  burdens  of  civilized  house-keep- 
ing. It  seemed  really  unkind  to  teach  them 
that  they  must  wash  dishes  and  make  beds, 
make  white  underclothing  and  keep  it 
clean,  and  fashion  for  themselves  dresses 
with  superfluous  ruffles  and  unnecessary 
button-holes.  They  learn  all  these  details, 
however,  with  what  seems  to  us  wonderful 
willingness  and  facility,  and  a  few  months 


133 


sees  starched  white  skirts,  and  delicious 
raised  bread  in  earth -floored  cabins  which 
hold  forth  little  promise  of  such  finished 
products  of  civilization. 

It  seems  at  first  as  if  the  women  were  a 
little  slower  of  comprehension  than  the  men, 
and  less  apt  to  receive  new  ideas — in  other 
words,  as  much  more  heavily-built  mental- 
ly as  they  certainly  are  physically.  Their 
broad,  shapeless  figures,  clumsy  movements, 
and  the  deliberation  with  which  they  weigh 
a  point  which  you  think  demands  imme- 
diate action,  are  not  at  all  attractive;  but 
there  is  a  distinctively  womanly  quality 
about  these  Indian  wives  and  mothers  which 
wins  your  regard  upon  a  nearer  acquaint- 
ance. I  think  they  are  as  devoted,  as  self- 
forgetful  and  willing  to  labor  for  the  good 
of  their  households  as  any  of  our  sex  any- 
where in  the  world. 

The  children  are  delightful;  and  the 
younger  and  smaller  and  wilder  they  are,  the 
more  fascinating  in  their  innocent  ndiveti. 
Only  two  or  three  of  mine  had  ever  been  to 
school  before,  or  knew  a  word  of  English,  and 
every  one  of  them  is  a  distinct  personality 
to  me  now.  I  can  shut  my  eyes  and  see  the 
quaint  little  figures  —  the  tousled  black 
heads,  the  sparkling  black  eyes,  the  trailing 


134 


red  shawls,  and  ragged  shirts  —  against  a 
background  of  sunburnt  prairie  or  the  yel- 
low pine  walls  of  my  school-room.  Some  of 
them  learned  the  mysteries  of  the  books  and 
the  mischief  of  the  average  school-boy  with 
about  equal  rapidity,  while  others,  invari- 
ably obedient,  were,  alas !  hopelessly  dull. 

We  taught  many  industries  in  our  school, 
albeit  it  was  only  a  day  school.  The  girls 
learned  to  make  and  mend,  to  wash  and  iron, 
to  cook  and  serve  palatable  food.  The  boys 
cultivated  a  small  garden,  and  waited  upon 
the  girls ! 

A  mid-day  lunch  was  served  to  all.  I  am 
a  strong  believer  in  the  effectiveness  of  the 
industrial  day  school,  when  properly  man- 
aged ;  and  if  I  could  have  but  one  form  of 
distinctively  Indian  school,  I  should  prefer 
it  to  any  other.  The  influence  upon  the 
whole  village  is  very  great,  and  the  pupil, 
having  completed  his  primary  education 
there,  can  enter  a  more  advanced  school  in 
wholesome  competition  with  white  children 
and  youth.  This  plan  has  thus  far  shown 
the  best  results. 

The  men  of  onr  camp  were  described  as 
unusually  stubborn  in  their  resistance  to  all 
progress.  We  were  received  at  the  first  with 
a  friendly  response  to  our  genuine  desire  to 


help  them,  bnt  there  was  a  certain  amount 
of  opposition  to  the  school,  which  had  to  be 
gradually  overcome.  We  found  that  if  we 
could  win  over  the  children,  their  indulgent 
parents  would  give  us  110  further  trouble. 
One  especially  attractive  little  maid,  as 
shy  as  she  was  pretty,  whose  Roman-nosed 
father  treated  our  advances  with  lofty  in- 
difference, hovered  about  the  school-house 
for  weeks  before  we  could  entice  her  in. 
Evidently  she  could  not  keep  away;  and, 
one  morning,  it  happened  that  when  she 
appeared  in  the  neighborhood  all  the  chil- 
dren were  piling  into  big  wagons,  with 
baskets  of  edibles,  and  a  joyful  confusion 
reigned  instead  of  the  usual  pleasant  or- 
der. We  were  going  to  celebrate  our  first 
school  picnic.  The  ragged  red  shawl  drew 
nearer,  and  a  longing  look  came  into  the  big 
brown  eyes.  A  smile  and  a  nod  of  invita- 
tion, and  the  maiden  skipped  into  the  back 
of  one  of  the  wagons,  where  she  kept  her 
picturesque  tatters  as  much  out  of  sight 
as  possible,  among  the  crisp  ginghams  and 
new  straw  sailors  already  assumed  by  her 
mates. 

They  were  very  good  to  her,  however, 
and  I  think  she  had  a  thoroughly  happy 
day.  At  any  rate,  she  came  to  school 


130 


bright  and  early  the  next  morning,  and 
soon  proved  herself  one  of  our  very  best 
scholars. 

Not  only  among  the  women  and  children 
is  the  influence  of  a  pure  woman  felt  for 
good.  It  is  equally  powerful  in  its  effect 
npoii  the  undeveloped  nature  of  the  Indian 
young  men.  Her  superior  knowledge,  her 
fearlessness,  and  her  goodness  seem  to  fill 
them  with  admiration  and  almost  awe,  and 
she  can  persuade  them  to  study  and  to  think, 
and  to  give  up  some  of  their  old  bad  habits, 
when  an  equally  good  man  would  not  influ- 
ence them  at  all. 

At  one  time  I  had  an  evening  school  for  a 
class  who  were  too  old  for  the  day  school, 
and  whose  touching  eagerness  to  learn  filled 
me  with  a  desire  to  help  them. 

It  was  the  most  interesting  part  of  my  work 
for  the  time  being,  because  of  the  zeal  and 
patience  of  my  pupils.  I  have  had  all  sorts 
of  knotty  questions  to  settle  for  these  tall 
scholars  of  mine  :  I  have  been  asked  to  ad- 
vise concerning  a  trade,  a  church,  a  love  af- 
fair, and  have  several  times  attempted  to 
reconcile  husband  and  wife. 

While  absorbed  in  this  inspiring  work,  I 
realized  that  the  teacher  or  missionary,  how- 
ever hard  she  tried  to  enter  into  their  lives, 


so  different  from  her  own,  could  see  only  one 
side  of  the  Indian. 

I  wanted  to  look  at  the  world  from  his 
stand-point  if  I  could,  and  with  this  object 
in  view  I  obtained  permission  (not  without 
difficulty)  of  a  party  of  wild  Indians  whom 
I  knew,  to  accompany  them  on  a  deer- 
hunt. 

This  was  after  I  had  resigned  from  my 
school.  We  were  out  nine  weeks  in  rain 
and  shine,  plenty  or  scarcity,  and  I  shared 
tbe  varying  fortunes  of  the  party  as  one  of 
themselves,  dressing  as  much  like  them  as  I 
could,  eating  their  food,  sleeping  on  the 
ground  in  my  own  tent,  which  they  carried 
for  me,  and  riding  an  Indian  pony  all  the 
way.  I  was  treated  with  kindness  and  re- 
spect which  never  failed  ;  and  although 
some  things  about  the  trip  were  not  pleas- 
ant, I  have  always  been  glad  that  I  took  it, 
for  I  am  sure  that  in  no  other  way  could  I 
have  gained  equal  insight  into  the  nature 
and  customs  of  the  red  man.  I  can  now 
"put  myself  in  his  place"  with  consider- 
able ease,  and  am  less  severe  upon  his 
failings,  and  even  his  vices,  than  I  used 
to  be. 

The  experience  which  I  have  so  slightly 
outlined  covers  yet  another  phase.  Soon 


138 


after  General  Morgan,  the  late  excellent 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  came  into 
office  lie  overstepped  precedent  by  appoint- 
ing two  women  to  inspect  and  supervise 
Indian  school-work.  One  of  these  women 
was  Mrs.  Dorchester,  the  wife  of  the  Indian 
School  Superintendent,  the  other  was  my- 
self. Since  nearly  half  the  pupils  and  a 
large  majority  of  the  teachers  in  these 
schools  are  women,  the  plan  of  putting  wom- 
en in  the  field  as  Special  Agents,  Super- 
visors, or  whatever  you  choose  to  call  them, 
seemed  a  judicious  one. 

I  resigned  one  year  later,  to  accept  the 
yet  more  honorable  position  of  wife  and  mis- 
tress of  a  household,  and  I  regret  that  a  wom- 
an was  not  appointed  in  my  place. 

I  enjoyed  this  work  thoroughly,  although 
it  involved  the  fatigues  of  constant  travel 
and  open-air  life,  to  which  I  had  become 
somewhat  inured.  I  visited  about  fifty 
schools,  widely  scattered  upon  the  various 
Sioux  reservations,  inspected  and  reported 
upon  them,  iu  detail,  and  made  whatever 
suggestions  to  the  teachers  seemed  to  mo  to 
be  practicable.  Often  I  taught  a  school  for 
a  half  day,  while  the  teacher  looked  on.  I 
found  some  good  work,  and  much  that  was 
unskilled  and  faulty. 


139 


The  trained  teacher  was  the  exception 
then  in  these  schools;  but  the  quality  is,  I 
think,  improving  every  year,  and  especially 
now  that  the  Civil  Service  rules  are  in  force 
in  this  branch  of  the  service. 

My  knowledge  of  the  Sioux  tongue  and 
acquaintance  with  the  people  were  utilized 
in  every  village  through  which  I  passed,  to 
inspire  the  parents,  if  possible,  with  greater 
interest  in  and  comprehension  of  the  work 
the  schools  were  doing.  I  also  listened  to 
their  requests  or  complaints,  and  found  them 
usually  worthy  of  attention.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve in  the  common  policy  of  Indian  Agents 
who  suppress  every  expression  of  unfavora- 
ble opinion  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  and 
endeavor  to  prevent  their  free  discussion  of 
matters  which  interest  them  more  than  any- 
body else,  and  which  ought  to  be  thought 
of  and  discussed  by  them. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  say  that  my  nine 
years  of  work  among  the  Indians  has  given 
ine  a  better  opinion  of  their  capacity  and  a 
worse  opinion  of  the  system  under  which, 
and  the  men  by  whom,  they  are  managed, 
than  a  majority  of  people  entertain. 

If  a  number  of  women,  as  good  and  as 
bright  as  are  so  many  of  our  sex,  could  be 
pnt  into  the  field  at  once  as  Indian  Agents, 


as  Inspectors,  as  School  Superintendents  ami 
Supervisors,  with  a  small  army  of  capable 
•women  teachers  and  field  matrons  under 
them,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  day  of  sal- 
vation for  the  red  man  would  he  brought 
much  nearer  than  it  is  to-day. 


THE    ANTISLAVERY   STEUGGLE. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  VARIOUS  WRITERS. 

To  the  Periodical  Literature  of  Antislav- 
ery  the  women  of  New  York  State  contrib- 
uted as  large  and  honorable  a  share  as  to 
its  other  phases  of  stirriug  and  dangerous 
activity.  Mrs.  ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON 
thus  sketches  the  antecedents  and  prepara- 
tion for  their  heroic  struggle. 

"  lu  gathering  up  the  threads  of  history 
in  the  last  century  and  weaving  its  facts 
and  philosophy  together,  one  can  trace  the 
liberal  social  ideas  growing  out  of  the  polit- 
ical and  religious  revolutions  in  France, 
Germany,  Italy,  and  America,  and  their 
tendency  to  substitute  for  the  divine  right 
of  kings,  priests,  and  orders  of  nobility  the 
higher  and  broader  one  of  individual  con- 
science and  judgment  in  all  matters  pertain- 
ing to  this  life  and  that  which  is  to  come. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  in  so  marked  a 
transition  period  from  the  old  to  the  new, 
as  seen  in  the  eighteenth  century,  that  worn- 


142 


en,  trained  to  thiuk  and  write  and  speak, 
should  have  discovered  that  they,  too,  had 
some  share  iu  the  new-born  liberties  sud- 
denly announced  to  the  world.  While  iu 
their  ignorance  women  are  usually  more 
superstitious,  more  devoutly  religious  than 
men,  those  trained  to  thought  have  geuerally 
manifested  more  interest  iu  political  ques- 
tions, and  have  more  frequently  spoken  and 
written  on  such  themes  than  on  those  merely 
religious.  This  may  be  attributed,  iu  a 
measure,  to  the  fact  that  the  tendency  of 
woman's  mind  at  this  stage  of  her  develop- 
ment is  towards  practical  rather  than  tow- 
ards speculative  science. 

"A  great  educational  work  for  women  was 
accomplished  by  the  Autislavery  struggle 
iu  this  country.  Woman  not  only  felt  every 
pulsation  of  man's  heart  for  freedom,  and  by 
her  enthusiasm  inspired  the  glowiug  elo- 
quence that  maintained  him  through  the 
struggle,  but  earnestly  advocated  with  her 
own  lips  and  pen  human  freedom  and 
equality." 

Closely  united  with  Mrs.  Stanton  iu  a 
friendship  of  thirty  years  is  the  Quaker, 
SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY.  Miss  Authouy's  peti- 
tions, arguments,  editorials,  and  addresses, 


143 


individual,  and  co-operative  with  Mrs.  Stau- 
ton,  ai-e  not  less  numerous  than  they  are 
keen,  logical,  and  persuasive.  If  Mrs.  Stan- 
tou  was  the  Napoleon,  Miss  Authony  was 
the  Sir  John  Lawrence  of  those  hard-fought 
fields.  We  quote  her  stirring  arraignment 
of  the  law  at  whose  har  she,  a  tax-paying, 
educated,  and  morally  -  responsible  citizen, 
stood  a  prisoner,  charged  with  the  offence  of 
"voting  without  having  a  lawful  right  to 
vote." 

"But  yesterday,"  she  pleaded,  "the  same 
inau-made  forms  of  law  declared  it  a  crime 
punishable  with  $1000  fine  and  six  mouths' 
imprisonment  for  you,  or  me,  or  any  of  us  to 
give  a  cup  of  cold  water,  a  crust  of  bread,  or 
a  night's  shelter  to  a  pauting  fugitive  as  he 
was  tracking  his  way  to  Canada.  And  every 
man  or  woman  in  whose  veins  courses  a  drop 
of  human  sympathy  violated  that  wicked 
law,  reckless  of  consequences,  and  was  justi- 
fied in  so  doing.  As,  then,  the  slaves  who 
got  their  freedom  must  take  it  over,  or 
under,  or  through  the  unjust  forms  of  law, 
precisely  so  now  must  women,  to  get  their 
right  to  a  voice  iu  this  Government,  take 
it ;  and  I  have  taken  mine,  aud  mean  to 
take  it  at  every  possible  opportunity.  Aud 
I  shall  earnestly  and  persistently  continue 


114 


to  urge  all  women  to  the  practical  recog- 
nitiun  of  the  old  revolutionary  maxim,  that 
'Resistance  to  tyrauuy  is  obedience  to 
God.' " 

That  brilliant  adopted  citizen  of  New 
York,  the  Polish  Jew,  Sijsmuud  Potoski, 
better  known  as  Mrs.  ERNESTINE  L.  ROSE, 
who  knew  something  of  European  despotism, 
writes :  "  We  can  hardly  have  an  adequate 
idea  how  all  powerful  law  is  in  forming 
public  opinion.  To  illustrate  this  point, 
look  at  that  inhuman,  detestable  law  writ- 
ten in  human  blood,  signed  and  sealed  with 
life  and  liberty,  that  eternal  stain  on  the 
statute-books  of  this  country,  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.  Think  yon  that  before  its  pas- 
sage you  could  have  found  any  in  the  Free 
States  base  enough  to  desire  such  a  law  ? 
No,  no!  Even  those  that  took  no  interest 
in  the  subject  would  have  shrunk  from  so 
barbarous  a  thing;  but  no  sooner  is  it  passed 
than  the  ignorant  mass,  the  rabble  of  the 
self-styled  'Union  Safety  Committee,'  found 
out  that  we  were  a  law-loving  and  law-abid- 
ing people.  Such  is  the  magic  power  of 
law ;  hence  the  necessity  to  guard  against 
bad  ones,  and  if  the  law  and  the  public  voice 
behind  it  are  oppressive  and  unjust,  then 


115 


they  should  bo  spurned  like  the  voice  of 
falsehood  and  corruption,  even  though  one 
thereby  incur  the  ill-will  of  passion,  bigotry, 
and  superstitious  conservation." 

Mrs.  J.  ELIZABETH  JONES,  one  of  the  early 
and  steadfast  abolitionists,  full  of  cares,  do- 
mestic and  philanthropic,  with  press-work 
and  lecturing,  now  at  fourscore  enjoying 
the  first  taste  of  leisure,  writes,  with  some 
of  the  old-time  warmth :  "  It  is  some  com- 
pensation for  great  evils  that  they  enforce 
great  lessons." 

Mrs.  ELIZABETH  OAKES  SMITH,  poet  and 
patriot,  wrote:  "All  who  take  their  stand 
against  false  institutions  are  in  some  sense 
imbittered.  They  taste  the  gall  and  vin- 
egar with  the  Divine  Master.  Their  large 
hearts  took  in  the  whole  sense  of  human 
woe,  and  bled  for  those  who  had  become 
brutalized  by  its  weight,  and  they  spoke  as 
never  man  spoke  in  his  own  individualism, 
but  as  the  embodied  race  will  speak  when 
the  full  time  is  come." 

Mrs.  FRANCES  DANA  GAGE,  whose  birth  in 
the  West,  of  New  England  parents,  and  sub- 
sequent residence  in  New  York  City,  entitle 

10 


146 


her  to  the  summing-up  for  woman,  writes  : 
"  Shall  we  talk  of  failure  because  forty 
years,  twenty  years,  or  seven  years  have  not 
perfected  all  things?  When  intemperance 
shall  have  passed  away,  when  the  four  mill- 
ion chattel  slaves  shall  sing  songs  of  free- 
dom, when  woman  shall  be  recognized  as 
man's  equal,  socially,  legally,  and  politically, 
there  will  yet  be  reforms  and  reformers,  and 
men  who  will  despair  and  look  upon  one 
branch  of  reform  as  the  great  battle-ground, 
and  talk  of  the  failure  of  the  eternal  law  of 
progress.  But  truth  and  right  are  sustained 
by  no  single  point ;  their  watchword  is 
1  Onward.' " 


THE  ANTISLAVERY  LEGACY. 

"EDUCATE  YODR  MASTERS."     (Reprinted  from  Popular 
Science  Monthly.) 

BY  MAUD   WILDER  GOODWIN. 

WHAT  shall  we  do  with  the  negro  ?  It 
is  a  question  of  self-interest  and  protection. 
The  negro  has  come  to  stay.  The  race  at 
present  numbers  some  seven  or  eight  mill- 
ions, and  actually  holds  the  balance  of 
power  numerically  in  several  of  the  South- 
ern States. 

The  black  belt,  as  it  is  to-day,  is  a  men- 
ace to  the  country  from  Mississippi  to 
Maine,  because  it  is  black  with  the  dark- 
ness of  idleness  and  ignorance  and  immo- 
rality. It  must  soon  be  decided  whether 
it  shall  grow  darker  and  darker,  or  shall 
come  to  shine,  like  the  Belt  of  Orion,  with 
the  light  of  intelligence  and  industry.  The 
problem  touches  all  who  believe  that  gov- 
ernment rests  on  good  citizenship,  and  good 
citizenship  on  individual  enlightenment, 


348 


and  that  education  is  the  tortoise  which 
supports  Atlas  in  his  task  of  holding  up  the 
world. 

We  are  confronted  by  a  solid  mass  of 
ignorant  citizens,  nominally  if  not  actually 
in  possession  of  the  ballot,  and  potent  to 
make  or  mar  the  fabric  of  the  republic. 
This  mass  is  not  decreasing  but  increasing. 
What  is  to  be  done  about  it  ?  No  matter 
whether  we  care  for  the  negro  or  his  wel- 
fare. If  we  care  for  the  nation,  we  must 
give  this  question  earnest  consideration. 
We  are  entitled  to  hold  the  most  divergent 
opinions  on  the  subject,  but  we  are  not  en- 
titled to  indifference — that  fatal  policy  of 
letting  alone  growing  evils  which  has 
wrecked  so  many  communities. 

There  can  be  no  divided  opinion  on  the 
desirability  of  educating  citizens  of  any 
race  or  color.  The  question,  then,  so  far  as 
the  negro  is  concerned,  resolves  itself  into 
three:  Is  he  capable  of  being  educated! 
What  system  of  education  best  meets  his 
temperament  and  condition  ?  and,  How  can 
such  education  be  given  him  ? 

To  put  the  last  two  questions  is,  of  course, 
to  assume  an  affirmative  answer  to  the  first. 
Assuredly  the  negro  can  be  educated.  We 
may  assume  so  much  of  a  horse  or  a  dog. 


119 


How  far,  is  another  story,  as  Rudyard  Kip- 
ling would  say.  All  speculation  on  the 
comparative  intellectual  capacity  of  the 
black  race  is  idle.  Any  accurate  estimate 
must  be  based  on  data  which,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  cannot  be  available  for  some 
centuries  to  come. 

To  the  closest  observers  at  the  South  the 
progress  of  the  negro  appears,  on  the  whole, 
remarkable,  though  statistics  might  be  pre- 
pared to  present  a  very  different  view.  It 
is  a  well  -  worn  truth  that  civilization  is 
classification,  and  so  it  is  proving  with  the 
blacks.  Some  of  them  have  progressed, 
and  some  reverted  almost  to  barbarism. 
Slavery  itself  was  in  its  time  a  great  school 
of  civilization.  It  held  a  semi- barbarous 
race  in  close  contact  with  their  superiors. 
When  that  bond  was  loosened,  those  negroes 
who  had  the  fibre  of  freedom  in  them  stood 
erect  in  independent  manhood ;  the  others 
sank  to  earth  in  abject  hopelessness. 

Twenty -eight  years  have  elapsed  since 
the  close  of  the  war.  Those  years  have 
solved  many  problems  and  harmonized  many 
differences,  but  they  have  not  solved  the 
problem  of  lifting  the  mass  of  the  blacks  to 
the  plane  of  intelligent  citizenship.  There 
is  much  secret  sympathy  at  the  North  with 


150 


the  suppression  of  the  negro  vote,  because 
it  is  believed  that  it  is  not  so  much  the 
result  of  race  prejudice  as  of  the  determina- 
tion of  an  intelligent  minority  not  to  be 
ruled  by  an  ignorant  and  degraded  majority. 
To  begin  civilization  with  the  ballot  is  like 
beginning  the  Bible  with  Revelation — it  is 
reading  backward.  Let  us  not  reopen  the 
question  of  the  wisdom  of  the  Government 
when,  hurried  on  by  the  passions  of  both 
North  and  South,  it  armed  the  negro  with 
the  ballot  as  his  solo  protection.  That  is 
done.  Our  problem  is  before  us.  As  the 
Oriental  proverb  runs  :  "  To-day  is  ours ; 
yesterday  and  to-morrow  belong  to  God." 

The  negro  must  be  educated ;  but  how  f 
Education  is  a  good  word,  but,  unfortu- 
nately, vague.  It  may  include  everything, 
from  the  alphabet  to  the  whole  sweep  of 
arts  and  letters.  It  may  be  general  or 
technical ;  physical,  mental,  or  moral.  Let 
us  try  to  arrive  at  a  more  definite  under- 
standing of  it.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  better 
parallel  for  the  education  of  a  race  than 
the  education  of  a  child,  only  for  every  five 
years  we  must  take  five  hundred.  Men 
fall  into  vice,  but  they  climb  into  virtue. 
Nothing  could  be  more  unreasonable  than 
to  expect  to  see  any  marked  change  from 


151 


the  conditions  engendered  by  slavery  in  so 
brief  a  period  as  thirty  years  ;  yet  we  hear 
the  accusation  constantly  made  against  the 
negro  that  he  is  still  a  lazy,  idle  vagabond. 
Perhaps  he  is,  but  it  is  only  another  il- 
lustration of  Franklin's  parable,  wherein 
Abraham  is  represented  as  wishing  to  cast 
the  wanderer  out  of  his  tent  because  he- 
will  not  worship  Jehovah.  But  the  Lord 
rebuked  Abraham,  saying,  "  Have  I  not 
borne  witli  thee  these  ninety  and  nine 
years,  and  couldst  thou  not  bear  with  him 
one  night  ?" 

Scarcely  a  day,  as  history  measures  time, 
has  elapsed  since  the  negroes,  trained  for 
centuries  to  depend  on  others  for  the  means 
of  livelihood,  found  themselves  flung  rudely 
into  the  grim  struggle  for  existence.  Not 
a  foot  of  land  was  given  them  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. No  one  ever  heard  of  a  negro 
reservation.  They  were  left  naked  to 
their  enemies  —  not  the  white  men  round 
them,  but  those  far  more  relentless  foes, 
the  accursed  slave  habits,  the  inheritance  of 
generations.  The  fatal  weakness  of  slavery 
to  the  enslaved  lies  in  the  fact  that  its 
teachings  strike  at  the  root  of  character  by 
eliminating  the  idea  of  moral  responsibility. 
No  soul,  no  sin.  If  the  marriage  tie  may 


152 


be  broken  at  the  will  of  the  master,  assur- 
edly it  will  be  at  the  pleasure  of  the  slave. 
If  the  servaut  is  a  chattel,  there  is  force  in 
his  logic  that  iu  converting  chicken  into 
slave,  he  is  only  changing  the  form  of  prop- 
erty. The  virtues  of  the  slave  are  unques- 
tioning obedience  and  passive  resignation. 
The  fundamental  virtues  of  the  freeman  are 
self-assertion  and  active,  unflinching  resist- 
ance to  any  attack  on  his  rights. 

The  close  of  the  war  saw  millions  of 
slaves  suddenly  enfranchised.  How  were 
they  to  be  safely  translated  from  one  con- 
dition to  another,  to  enjoy  liberty  without 
running  into  license,  to  defend  themselves 
without  offending  others — in  a  word,  to  be- 
come good  citizens  ?  To  the  great  good- 
fortune  of  the  negro,  the  contraband  camp 
at  Hampton,  Va.,  was  placed  under  the 
control  of  General  Samuel  C.  Armstrong,  a 
man  fitted  for  his  position,  not  only  by 
having  served  in  the  war  as  a  leader  of 
black  troops,  but  by  having  passed  hia 
boyhood  in  the  Sandwich  Islands.  It 
seemed  providential  that  he  had  had  such 
an  opportunity  of  studying  close  at  hand 
the  evolution  from  barbarism  of  a  dark- 
skinned  Polynesian  people  closely  resem- 
bling in  many  ways  the  negro  in  America. 


Of  the  Islanders  lie  wrote  :  "  They  seemed 
to  have  accepted,  but  not  to  have  fully 
adopted,  Christianity  ;  for  they  did  not  have 
the  conditions  of  living  which  make  high 
standards  of  morality  possible."  Now 
again  he  was  forced  to  see  and  deplore  the 
process  of  pietizing  without  moralizing, 
repeated  under  his  eye  in  the  camp  meetings 
of  the  South.  No  heathen  is  so  difficult  to 
deal  with  as  the  negro  who  lias  rim  through 
the  whole  gamut  of  religious  experience, 
and  still  retains  his  original  weakness  for 
pilfering  watermelons. 

General  Armstrong's -scientific  study  of 
the  negro  led  him  early  to  the  belief  that 
the  only  hope  for  him  lay  not  in  being 
helped,  but  in  being  taught  to  help  himself; 
that  a  successful  system  of  training  must 
take  into  account  the  equal  development  of 
heart,  hand,  and  head.  To  work  out  this 
theory  he  consented  to  take  charge  of  the 
School  for  Freedmen  which  was  gradually 
evolved  from  the  Hampton  camp.  Here, 
on  the  spot,  rich  in  historic  memories,  where 
freedom  first  came  to  the  slave  through 
Benjamin  F.  Butler's  famous  order  declaring 
him  "  contraband  of  war,"  on  the  shores  of 
the  broad  bay  where  the  Monitor  and  the 
Merrimac  closed  in  their  deadly  embrace, 


154 


General  Armstrong  opened  bis  educational 
campaign. 

"  The  thing  to  be  done  was  clear :  to 
train  selected  negro  youth  who  should  go 
out  and  teach  and  lead  their  people,  first  by 
example,  by  getting  land  and  homes;  to 
give  them  not  a  dollar  that  they  could  earn 
for  themselves  ;  to  teach  respect  for  labor; 
to  replace  stupid  drudgery  with  skilled 
hands;  and  to  these  ends,  to  build  up  an 
industrial  system,  for  the  sake  not  only  of 
self-support  and  intelligent  labor,  but  also 
for  the  sake  of  character.  And  it  seemed 
equally  clear  that  the  people  of  the  country 
would  support  a  wise  work  for  the  freedmen." 

Time  has  more  than  justified  his  foresight. 
The  negroes  receive  such  industrial  training 
as  to  make  them  masters  of  their  own  fac- 
ulties ;  a  financial  training  that  teaches 
how  to  save  and  how  to  spend  money :  and 
afterwards  as  high  an  intellectual  education 
as  they  shall  show  capacity  and  desire  for. 
The  first  essential  in  making  the  blacks 
independent  is  to  make  them  home-owners 
and  property-holders.  This  is  not  a  diffi- 
cult task,  for  the  negroes  have  a  land- 
hunger.  The  difficulty  lies  in  their  im- 
provident habits,  which  too  often  result  in 
mortgaged  houses  and  farms. 


155 


The  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  America 
threatened  to  follow  the  same  course  as  the 
emancipation  of  the  serfs  in  Russia,  where 
the  boon  of  liberty  turned  to  calamity  and 
curse.  Slavery  under  masters,  often  made 
considerate  by  habit,  was  exchanged  for  an 
industrial  slavery  far  more  bitter.  The 
emancipated  Russian  serfs  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  usurers,  who  first  established 
and  then  foreclosed  mortgages  on  the  little 
farms  granted  to  the  newly  enfranchised. 
At  the  South,  too,  the  mortgaged  farm  has 
been  a  weapon  of  tyranny.  Once  let  a 
negro  own  his  ground,  and  he  is  indeed 
free ;  once  let  him  own  a  mortgage  on  a 
white  man's  farm,  and  he  is  master  of  the 
situation.  Such  is  the  testimony  of  Booker 
Washington,  himself  the  best  illustration 
of  the  progress  of  the  race.  Coming  to 
Hampton  with  fifty  cents  as  his  entire 
capital,  he  worked  his  way  through  the 
school,  and  went  out  to  found  a  similar  one 
at  Tuskegee,  Alabama.  And  the  best  hope 
for  the  future  was  unintentionally  expressed 
by  a  Southern  white  man,  who,  after  seeing 
him  pass  on  the  street,  exclaimed,  with  an 

oath,  "By !  it's  all  I  can  do  to  help 

saying  '  Mister'  to  him." 

Booker  Washington  is  firm  in  the  faith 


that  his  brothers  will  never  succeed  until 
they  learn  to  depend  on  themselves,  and 
that  self-dependence  is  best  fostered  by  the 
ownership  of  land.  A  property-owning 
negro  is  not  only  secure  of  his  rights,  but 
he  has  a  vital  interest  in  the  stability  of 
government,  and  thus  becomes  a  citizen  in 
the  fullest  sense,  without  distinction  of  race 
or  color.  Rev.  S.  J.  Barrows  writes : 

"  General  Armstrong  has  built  a  new  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin,  and  it  is  very  different  from 
the  old.  You  may  see  the  difference  in  the 
Black  Belt.  There  is  the  old  cabin  with  its 
one  door,  and  perhaps  no  window ;  and 
there,  not  far  away,  is  the  new  one  built  by 
the  Hampton  graduate,  two  stories  high, 
perhaps,  nicely  carpeted  and  furnished, 
something  better  than  'hog  and  hominy' 
to  eat,  books  on  the  shelf.  Such  a  home  is 
a  beacon-light  in  the  community  to  diffuse 
intelligence  and  the  spirit  of  order  and 
progress.  That  is  what  Hampton  is  doing. 
It  is  building  homes  and  schools  all  through 
the  South." 

A  man  once  excused  himself  for  begging 
from  Dr.  Johnson  by  explaining  :  "  You  see, 
my  dear  sir,  I  must  live."  "Really," 
replied  the  sturdy  old  doctor,  "  I  don't  see 
the  necessity."  Now,  it  is  a  fact  in  political 


157 


economy  that  the  killing  off  of  one-third  of 
the  black  population  at  the  South  would 
probably  prove  a  benefit  to  civilization.  It 
would  work  like  the  thinning  out  of  a 
forest  jungle,  leaving  room  for  the  sun  aud 
air  to  reach  the  survivors  ;  but  the  law  has 
not  yet  authorized  this  process  of  scientific 
weeding  out  of  the  unfittest.  The  question 
is  not,  Shall  the  negro  poor  live  ?  but 
How  shall  they  live  ?  Pauperism  does 
not  stop  procreation.  The  next  generation 
will  be  called  upon  to  solve  our  problem 
several  times  multiplied.  The  negro  is  a 
Rip  van  Winkle,  who  has  suddenly  waked 
into  a  dizzy  world  of  prosperity  and  prog- 
ress. He  cannot  hope  at  present  to  com- 
pete for  the  prizes,  but  is  he  therefore  to  be 
counted  out  as  a  factor  in  the  world's 
work  ?  "  Not  so,"  said  General  Armstrong, 
and  as  proof  of  it  he  points  to  the  achieve- 
ments of  Hampton. 

Hampton  stands,  above  all,  for  industrial 
education.  The  institutions  tit  Petersburg, 
Nashville,  and  Atlanta  are  all  working  for 
the  education  of  the  colored  race.  Some  of 
them  have  technical  schools,  but  it  is  at 
Hampton  alone  that  industrial  training  aud 
manual  labor  form  the  key -stone  of  the 
educational  arch.  Thoroughness  and  ac- 


158 


curacy  are  taught  at  the  carpenter's  beuch 
and  the  blacksmith's  forge.  But  the  arti- 
sans are  uot  left  untaught  in  other  things. 
The  night  school  is  crowded  every  evening 
with  eager  learners  of  two  races.  Negroes 
and  Indians  study  side  by  side,  with  benefit 
to  both  races.  Their  horizou  is  widened  by 
the  interchange  of  experiences  from  such 
diverse  regions  as  the  West  and  South, 
the  prairie  and  the  cotton-field.  Even  as 
children  learn  from  each  other  more  readily 
thau  from  grown  people,  so  these  child 
races  are  teaching  and  training  one  another. 
When  the  Indians  were  introduced  into 
the  school,  some  fifteen  years  ago,  it  was 
feared  that  the  discipline  and  general  morale 
of  the  institution  would  suffer.  These  have, 
on  the  contrary,  steadily  improved.  The 
principle  of  student-government  has  been 
introduced.  The  boys,  negro  and  Indian, 
are  formed  into  a  battalion.  Cases  of  in- 
subordination are  dealt  with  by  a  court- 
martial  detailed  from  among  the  officers, 
who  report  their  sentence  for  the  approval 
of  the  faculty  of  the  school.  The  systnn 
is  admirably  adapted  to  its  purpose.  It 
develops  both  discipline  and  a  sense  of 
honor.  To  compel  a  boy,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  to  report  the  conduct  of  his 


159 


comrades  is  to  make  him  a  spy  aud  in- 
former, but  when  he  acts  as  guard  or  sen- 
tiuel  he  falls  at  once  into  the  attitude  of 
military  obedience. 

Nothing  shows  keener  insight  into  the 
•character  of  the  negro  than  the  establish- 
ment of  this  semi-military  basis.  A  uni- 
form, gay  with  straps  and  brass  buttons,  is 
dear  to  his  heart.  His  feet  keep  step  to 
the  tap  of  the  drum,  and  the  flag  behind 
which  he  marches  is  a  perpetual  reminder 
to  him  tbat  he  is  an  integral  part  of  a  great 
nation  which  expects  something  from  him 
in  return  for  the  freedom  and  citizenship 
which  it  has  bestowed.  It  stimulates,  too, 
the  ability  for  organization,  which  is  one  of 
the  latest  developments  of  civilization. 
Here  the  negro  is  manifestly  deficient.  He 
rights  and  works  well  under  the  command 
and  oversight  of  his  superior,  but  looks  to 
his  officers  for  example  as  well  as  for  orders, 
for  backbone  as  well  as  brains — literally, 
the  sinews  of  war.  This  mental  and  moral 
muscle  is  just  what  Hampton  is  supplying, 
teaching  the  negro  first  to  help  himself  and 
then  to  lend  a  hand  to  others,  to  organize, 
to  teach,  aud  to  command. 

Hampton  is  a  noble  educational  plant 
insufficiently  endowed.  Its  alumni  are 


poor;  they  can  give  it  only  gratitude  and 
sympathy,  and,  as  a  cynic  has  observed,  the 
bonds  of  sympathy  bear  no  coupons.  This 
criticism,  however,  is  only  a  surface  truth, 
for  no  cause  ever  failed  for  lack  of  funds  if 
it  had  enough  vital  sympathy  behind  it.  • 
The  success  of  this  experiment  of  indus- 
trial education  is  a  national  affair.  It  inti- 
mately concerns  the  white  population  of 
the  South,  whose  welfare,  whether  they 
will  or  not,  is  bound  up  with  that  of  the 
blacks,  so  that  the  sarcastic  advice,  "  Edu- 
cate your  masters!"  becomes  literal  counsel 
of  the  truest  and  wisest  kind.  Nor  are  we 
of  the  North  indifferent  observers.  So 
bound  together  is  this  nation  by  the  iron 
bands  of  railroads  and  telegraph  wires  that 
the  issue  of  affairs  in  the  most  distant 
South  is  of  vital  interest.  Let  it  not  be 
said  of  the  thinkers  of  to-day  as  of  those 
blind  ones  who  watched  the  condition  of 
France  before  the  Revolution,  that  the 
philosophers  were  duller  than  the  fribbles. 
Let  us  clearly  recognize  the  difficulty  and 
complexity  of  the  problem  with  which  we 
have  to  deal,  and  then  let  us  address  our- 
selves to  its  solution  soberly,  earnestly,  and 
unremittingly. 


THE  NEGRO   AND  CIVILIZATION. 

"  A.v  AMERICAN  WOMAN  OP  THE  SOUTH."    (Courtesy  of 
A'ew  York  Evening  Post. ) 

BY  MRS.  JULIA    MARGARET    FULLER    LLOYD. 

VERY  serious  statements,  invidious  to  the 
blacks,  are  sent  almost  daily  from  various 
parts  of  the  South,  and  scattered  broadcast 
as  they  are  by  Northern  journals ;  these 
statements  call  on  the  whole  American 
people  for  earnest  consideration.  The  fol- 
lowing may  serve  to  illustrate  the  type: 
"The  only  large  class  of  real  paupers  are 
the  negroes  who  swarm  in  great  numbers 
and  live  from  hand  to  mouth,  too  lazy  to 
work.  It  may  be  laid  down  as  an  axiom 
regarding  certainly  70  per  cent,  of  the  ne- 
gro race,  that  they  will  not  work  except 
just  enough  to  keep  body  and  soul  together. 
The  women  are  more  thriftless  and  shiftless 
than  the  men,  and  altogether  more  vicious. 
It  is  not  infrequent  to  find  the  men  faith- 
ful, capable,  and  industrious.  But  with 
thousands  of  negro  girls  needing  eniploy- 
11 


162 


inent  nothing  is  Larder  to  get  than  good 
servants.  The  people  who  imagined  they 
were  freeing  the  negroes  really  freed  the 
white  people  of  the  South — but  turned  the 
most  peaceable  and  law-abiding  people  in 
the  world  into  the  most  criminal  race  in 
this  or  any  other  civilized  country.  The 
negro's  only  idea  of  civilization,  and  the 
one  his  friends  are  constantly  urging  upon 
him,  is  to  learn  to  read  and  write.  Many 
of  them  can  read  and  write,  and  from  these 
literate  uegro'es  the  jails  are  kept  tilled." 

No  wise  physician  thinks  of  prescribing 
or  prohibiting  a  remedy  until  he  has  made 
a  thorough  diagnosis  of  the  disease  ;  and  so 
110  sound  and  just  counsel  can  be  found  for 
America  to-day  without  examining  her  na- 
tional life  for  many  days.  The  latest  and 
most  scientific  teachers  of  history  through- 
out the  world  prefer,  where  it  is  possible, 
to  give  their  students  the  original  docu- 
ments and  other  contemporaneous  authori- 
ties of  any  given  era,  rather  than  their  own 
version  of  such  data.  All  science  of  ani- 
mate or  inanimate  nature,  all  human  expe- 
rience, all  inspiration  of  Holy  Writ,  teach 
us  that  certain  causes  produce  certain  re- 
sults. In  the  name,  then,  of  the  best  hu- 
man and  divine  wisdom,  let  us,  in  tracing 


163 


the  history  of  the  negro  in  America  and 
elsewhere,  turn  to  his  different  contempora- 
ries at  different  periods  and  places. 

One  hundred  and  eleven  years  ago  we 
find  Thomas  Jefferson,  subsequently  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  writing  these 
words  in  his  Notes  on  Virginia:  "There 
musi  doubtless  be  an  unhappy  influence  on 
the  manners  of  our  people  produced  by  the 
existence  of  slavery  among  us.  The  whole 
commerce  between  master  and  slave  is  a 
perpetual  exercise  of  the  most  boisterous 
passions — the  most  unremitting  despotism 
on  the  one  part,  and  degrading  submission 
on  the  other.  With  what  execration  should 
that  statesman  be  loaded  who,  permitting 
one  -  half  the  citizens  to  trample  on  the 
rights  of  the  other,  transforms  those  into 
despots  and  these  into  enemies,  destroys 
the  morals  of  the  one  part  and  the  amor 
patrice  of  the  other  ?  Indeed,  I  tremble  for 
iny  country  when  I  reflect  that  God  is  just." 

Many  years  afterwards,  in  1852,  we  find 
J.  B.  De  Bow, of  Louisiana, quoting  the  fol- 
lowing statements  from  an  address  deliver- 
ed by  Chancellor  Harper,  of  South  Carolina, 
before  a  Society  for  the  Advancement  of 
Learning,  at  Charleston,  S.  C.:  "Odium  has 
been  cast  upon  our  legislation  on  account 


161 


of  its  forbidding  the  elements  of  education 
to  be  communicated  to  slaves.  But,  in 
truth,  what  injury  is  done  them  by  this  f 
Would  you  do  a  benefit  to  the  horse  or  the 
ox  by  giving  him  a  cultivated  understand- 
ing, or  fine  feelings?  It  is. true  that  the 
passions  of  the  men  of  the.  superior  caste 
tempt  and  find  gratification  in  the  easy 
chastity  of  the  female  slave.  But  she  is  not 
less  a  useful  member  of  society  than  before. 
She  has  done  no  great  injury  to  herself  or 
any  other  human  being  ;  her  offspring  is  not 
a  burden  but  ah  .acquisition  to  her  owner. 
I  am  asked  how  can  that  institution  be 
tolerable  by  which  a  large  class  of  society 
is  cut  off  from  improvement  and  knowledge, 
to  whom  blows  are  not  degrading,  theft  no 
more  than  a  fault,  falsehood  and  the  want 
of  chastity  almost  venial,  and  in  which  a 
husband  or  parent  looks  with  comparative 
indifference  on  that  which  to  a  freeman 
would  be  the  dishonor  of  wife  or  child  ? 
But  why  not,  if  it  produce  the  greatest  ag- 
gregate of  good  ?" 

Here,  from  prominent  Southern  men,  in 
the  earlier  and  later  days  of  slavery,  wo 
have  an  account  of  the  workings  of  that  in- 
stitution in  the  lives  of  both  white  men  and 
negroes,  masters  and  slaves.  Point  for 


165 


point,  we  come  upon  those  influences  and 
that  practice  which  both  black  and  white 
posterity  suffers  for  to  -  day.  And  this  is 
inevitable.  Any  constitution  of  things  that 
would  make  of  man  a  responsible  being 
must  let  him  work  weal  or  woe  for  himself 
and  for  others,  according  as  he  chooses  good 
or  clings  to  evil.  And  it  also  follows  that 
not  only  crime  hut  also  ignorance  must 
Lear  its  penalty.  But  a  great  soul  has 
said,  "All  life  is  a  becoming,"  and  this  is  so 
true,  so  divinely  true,  that  the  great,  true, 
pure,  loving  Christ  taught  it  as  the  greatest 
truth,  taught  it  unceasingly;  he  who  so 
condemned  sin  that  he  said  the  man  who 
even  looked  at  a  woman  with  impure  eyes 
•was  guilty  of  sin,  yet  so  knew  sinners  that 
he  spoke  at  once  to  the  angel  in  them, 
saying:  "Behold,  this  beautiful  and  holy 
tiling  within  you  is  what  the  whole  man 
may  become."  And  the  history  of  man  con- 
firms him.  American  history  confirms  him. 
Scattered  here  and  there,  throughout  the 
South,  in  the  days  of  slavery,  were  not  a 
few  men  like  Jefferson,  longing  and  seeking 
for  the  nobler  life  for  both  English  and 
African  Americans.  Scattered  about  the 
North  were  men  who  felt  that  to  lose  their 
life  was  to  save  it,  if  they  could  so  save 


1G6 


men,  and — God  was  over  all.  And  if  Jeffer- 
son and  many  others  showed  that  the  no- 
bler qualities  of  the  white  race  could  per- 
sist even  under  the  influence  of  slavery,  so, 
too,  did  two  noble  Louisiana  negroes  and 
others  of  the  colored  race  show  that  the 
nobler  qualities  of  the  African  could  survive 
bondage. 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  a  former 
large  slave-holder  was  left  without  money, 
and  without  the  courage  and  other  resources 
which  enable  a  man  to  make  money.  To 
the  aid  of  this  broken  and  helpless  man 
came  two  black  men,  two  of  his  former 
slaves,  whom  he  had  trained  as  mechanics, 
and  whom  he  had  then  "hired  out"  to 
other  men,  always  taking  the  whole  of  their 
large  wages.  The  two  ex-slaves  not  only 
came  to  his  rescue  in  his  extremity,  but  they 
also  for  ten  years,  which  was  until  his  death, 
maintained  him  iu  all  the  habits  of  refined 
comfort  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed, 
and  at  his  death  gave  liim  what  they  called 
"  a  gentleman's  funeral."  This  was  told  the 
writer,  a  Southern  woman,  by  a  Southerner 
and  former  slave-holder,  who  knew  both  the 
gentleman  and  the  two  negroes.  He  called 
the  two  latter  "  grand  fellows." 

Some  four  or  five  years  ago  Bishop  Taylor, 


167 


just  home  from  Africa,  gave  an  interesting 
account  of  some  of  his  African  converts.  He 
told  of  an  African  chief  who  when  converted 
had  several  wives.  No  one  had  yet  spoken 
to  him  about  this,  but  Christianity  seemed 
to  speak  for  itself,  for,  with  no  other  coun- 
sellor, he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  as  a 
Christian  he  ought  to  have  only  one  wife. 
Now,  some  of  his  wives  were  young  and 
pretty,  some  strong  for  work  in  the  fields, 
etc.;  but  his  first  wife  was  no  longer  young, 
nor  strong,  nor  beautiful.  Yet,  letting  the 
others  go,  it  was  she  he  kept,  saying  simply 
he  thought  "Christ  would  have  it  so." 
Henry  Stanley,  speaking  of  the  native  Afri- 
cans in  his  African  expedition,  says:  "The 
uncomplaining  heroism  of  our  dark  fellows, 
the  brave  manhood  latent  in  such  uncouth 
disguise,  the  tenderness  we  have  seen  issu- 
ing from  these  nameless  entities,  the  great 
love  animating  the  ignoble,  the  sacrifice 
made  by  the  unfortunate  for  one  more  un- 
fortunate, the  reverence  we  have  noted  in 
barbarians  who,  even  as  ourselves,  were  in- 
spired with  nobleness  and  incentives  to  duty 
— of  all  these  we  could  speak  if  we  would." 
Carefully  reviewing  our  evidence,  what 
inference  can  we  draw  save  that  of  the  most 
hopeful  character  ?  If  we  have  seen  that  he 


168 


who  sows  to  the  flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap 
corruption,  that  the  first  man  is  of  the  earth 
earthy,  we  have  also  seen  that  there  is  a 
man  from  heaven,  and  this  man  may  find 
himself  and  his  God-intended  manhood  be- 
neath a  skin  of  any  color. 

What  we  need  in  America  to-day  is  a  di- 
viner standard  of  living  for  till  men  ;  not  the 
old  vices  of  Europe,  bnt  the  ever-new,  ever- 
enduring  virtues  taught  by  Jesns  Christ.  We 
have  boasted  of  lower  things  until  we  have 
been  blinded  by  them.  We  have  made  much 
money;  but  to-day,  all  over  the  land — North, 
South,  East,  and  West — our  best  men  are  call- 
ing to  their  fellows,  "  Come,  let  us  make  men, 
lot  us  be  men,  brothers,  sons  of  God."  We 
all  need  each  other.  Not  one  of  us,  black  or 
white,  rich  or  poor,  can  bo  as  wise,  or  as 
good,  or  as  happy  as  he  might  be,  without 
all  the  wisdom,  all  the  virtue,  all  tho  good 
cheer  that  all  the  others  might  bring  him. 
United  we  stand,  divided  we  fall,  and  justly 

At  this  moment  no  thoughtful  woman  in 
America  knows  which  to  pity  most — the 
sensual,  empty,  worthless  lives  of  an  enor- 
mous number  of  educated  white  men,  North 
and  South,  or  the  squalid  imitation  of  that 
lifo  among  ^ineducated  black  men.  Of 
thoughtless  women,  what  word  is  sad 


169 


enough  ?  Let  us  not  say  it.  Let  our  strong 
words  be  words  of  cheer  as  well  as  truth. 
First,  what  besides  the  nobler  ordering  of 
our  own  lives  can  we  do  for  our  whole  conn- 
try  to-day  f  Among  our  many  wise  men 
could  not  two  make  valuable  suggestions 
for  the  consideration  of  all  f  The  long, 
comprehensive,  and  practical  experience  of 
General  Armstrong  and  Booker  Washington 
in  training  the  negro  race  in  the  things 
which  make  for  upright  and  useful  living 
needs  no  fresh  setting  forth.  Could  not 
these  two  men  meet  a  "  Columbian  Coun- 
cil "at  the  World's  Fair,  and  make  Columbia 
the  fairer  because  of  it  ?  That  it  could  be 
done  is  made  certain  by  all  the  generous, 
magnanimous,  high-minded  things  which 
men  and  women  of  every  race  are  doing  in 
America  to-day. 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  BLIND. 

BY    MRS.   FREDERICK    RHINELANDER     JONES. 

ONE  afternoon  during  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember, 1771,  the  fair  of  St.  Ovide  was,  as 
usual,  filling  what  is  now  the  Place  Ven- 
dome  with  a  gay  and  idle  crowd,  which 
strolled  from  booth  to  booth,  applauding  or 
chaffing  the  jugglers,  dancers,  and  acrobats 
who  were  toiling  to  make  a  Parisian  holi- 
day, and  in  the  throng  was  a  young  fellow 
of  twenty-six,  named  Valentin  Haiiy,  the  son 
of  a  poor  linen-weaver  of  Picardy,  and  him- 
self employed  as  a  translating  clerk  and  in- 
terpreter in  the  Foreign  Office. 

It  is  easy  now  to  sneer  at  the  humanitari- 
an isui  of  the  last  century,  but  it  was  the 
first  sentiment  which  had  appealed  to  all 
classes  alike  since  the  Crusades,  and  Haiiy 
was  a  fervent  disciple  of  the  new  philosophy, 
being  one  of  those  generous  and  optimistic 
souls  who,  in  all  ages,  are  called  enthusiasts 
or  visionaries,  according  to  the  point  of  view 
of  the  speaker.  As  he  loitered  along  on  the 


171 


day  which  was  to  be  the  turning-point  of 
his  life,  he  noticed  that  the  crowd  was  thick- 
est before  a  booth  where  a  certain  Valiu- 
drin  had  had  the  ingenious  idea  of  forming 
a  band  of  ten  men,  chosen  among  the  blind 
beggars  who  were  accustomed  to  sing  and 
play  various  instruments  in  the  streets.  The 
lookers-on  were  shouting  with  laughter,  and 
pressing  so  close  around  the  frail  stage  that 
it  ran  great  risk  of  destruction.  Hatty  shall 
describe  what  he  saw  in  his  own  words: 

"The  players  were  tricked  out  in  gro- 
tesque robes,  with  high,  pointed  caps,  and 
wore  large  goggles  of  card-board  without 
glasses.  Placed  before  a  desk  on  which 
were  music  and  lights,  they  executed  a  mo- 
notonous chant — singers,  violins,  and  basses 
being  in  unison.  It  \vas  doubtless  because  of 
their  ignorance  of  music  that  it  was  possible 
to  justify  the  insult  done  to  these  unfortunate 
beings  bj7  surrounding  them  with  emblems 
of  stupidity,  as  in  placing,  for  instance,  a 
peacock's  tail,  full-spread  behind  their  lead- 
er, and  crowning  him  with  the  head-dress 
of  Midas.  How  was  it  credible  that  a  scene 
so  dishonoring  to  humanity  should  not  have 
perished  at  the  very  instant  of  its  concep- 
tion ?  May  it  not  have  been  in  order  that 
the  picture  before  iny  eyes  should  profound- 


17-2 


ly  afflict  my  heart  and  kindle  my  spirit? 
Yes,  I  exclaimed  to  myself,  seized  with  a 
great  enthusiasm,  I  will  substitute  truth  for 
this  ridiculous  fable,  I  will  make  the  blind 
read,  I  will  place  in  their  hands  volumes 
printed  by  themselves;  they  shall  trace  let- 
ters and  be  able  to  read  their  own  writing, 
and  I  willevenmake  them  execute  harmoni- 
ous music."  Valentin  Haiiy  had  found  his 
life-work,  and  the  blind  their  apostle. 

Before  his  time  there  had  been  no  system- 
atic attempt  to  educate  them,  although  here 
and  there  one  of  their  number  had  distin- 
guished himself  in  spite  of  his  misfortune; 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  examples  being 
Nicholas  Saunderson,  who,  although  blind 
almost  from  birth,  was  Lucasian  Professor 
of  Mathematics  at  Cambridge,  holding  the 
chair  after  Whiston,  who  was  Sir  Isaac  New- 
ton's successor.  He  lectured  in  1707  on  New- 
ton's "  Theory  of  Optics,"  invented  an  arith- 
metical slate  for  the  blind,  published  several 
treatises  on  the  higher  algebra,  and  was, 
moreover,  an  expert  numismatist,  to  the 
point  of  detecting  by  touch  the  counterfeits 
in  the  collection  of  Roman  coins  at  Cam- 
bridge. 

The  earliest  asylum  for  the  blind  of  which 
there  is  any  definite  record  was  founded  in 


173 


Paris  by  St.  Louis  in  1254,  and  has  been 
known  ever  since  by  the  quaint  name  of 
the  Hdtel  des  Quiuze-Vingts.  According  to 
tradition,  it  was  meant  as  a  shelter  for  three 
hundred  knights  whose  eyes  had  been  put 
out  by  the  Saracens,  and  whom  the  king 
brought  back  with  him  from  the  First  Cru- 
sade; but  history  is  silent  as  to  the  place 
where  this  act  of  wholesale  cruelty  was  com- 
mitted, or  the  way  in  which  St.  Louis  man- 
aged to  get  the  helpless  little  army  home 
again.  As  time  went  on  the  H6tel  came  to 
harbor  women  as  well  as  meu,  and  gained 
various  rights  and  privileges,  but  its  in- 
mates were  expected  to  contribute  towards 
their  support  by  begging  in  the  streets  and 
at  church -doors,  and  it  was  from  cimong 
them  that  Valiudrin  collected  his  baud. 

According  to  present  statistics,  about  one 
in  every  thousand  of  the  population  of 
Western  countries  is  blind,  and  during  the 
Middle  Ages  the  proportion  was  probably 
greater,  as  it  is  now  in  the  East.  It  there- 
fore followed  that  those  among  the  blind  in 
France  who  could  show  the  copper  fleur-de- 
lis  given  by  Philippe -le  Bel  as  a  distin- 
guishing badge  to  the  Quinze-Vingts  were 
considered  as  aristocrats  by  the  less  fortu- 
nate majority  that  helped  to  swell  the  ranks 


176 


of  his  discovery,  he  called  Hatty,  who  forth- 
with traced  with  the  handle  of  a  small  pen- 
knife more  letters  on  the  same  paper,  and 
when  Lesueur  read  those  also  by  touch,  his 
teacher's  quick  brain  had  seized  the  idea  of 
printing  from  types  cast  in  high  relief. 

One  pupil  was  not  enough  for  Haiiy,  who 
wished  to  establish  a  school  rather  than  to 
astonish  the  world  by  a  single  prodigy,  and, 
fortunately  for  him,  the  Philanthropic  So- 
ciety, which  had  been  recently  founded,  in- 
cluded among  its  beneficiaries  twelve  blind 
children.  These  he  obtained  permission  to 
take  into  his  own  home,  and  then  began  for 
him  a  struggle  lasting  through  the  twenty 
stormy  years  which  made  modern  Europe. 
He  could  not  afford  to  give  up  his  place  in 
the  Foreign  Office,  hut  every  hour  outside 
of  it  was  claimed  by  the  real  work  of  his 
life.  To  make  this  better  known,  on  De- 
cember 26, 1786,  his  scholars,  who  then  num- 
bered twenty-four,  gave  an  exhibition  be- 
fore the  King  at  Versailles,  where,  after 
going  through  various  exercises,  and  sing- 
ing a  loyal  ode  composed  by  one  of  them, 
they  presented  his  Majesty  with  the  first 
book  printed  from  the  new  relief  typo,  which 
had  been  set  up  and  struck  off  by  them- 
selves. The  title  was  Essai  sur  VKduai- 


tion  des  Avciiglcs,  and  Haily  was  naturally 
the  author.  Outside  of  its  value  as  a  typo- 
graphical curiosity,  the  book  is  most  inter- 
esting, because  the  earnest,  and  kindly  nat- 
ure of  the  writer  reveals  itself  throughout. 
He  says  honestly  that  he  had  seen  a  letter 
printed  by  Mile.  Paradies  from  type  made 
for  her  by  one  Kempellen,  but  certainly  no 
one  before  Haiiy  had  ever  tried  seriously  to 
make  printing  available  for  the  blind.  He 
is  convinced  that  they  may  be  practical 
printers  of  books,  not  only  for  their  own 
manual  reading,  but  from  ordinary  type, 
and  he  gives  elaborate  descriptions  of  the 
"cases"  most  suitable  for  them,  and  sug- 
gests modifications  of  the  presses  then  in 
use.  He  acknowledges  that  the  cost  of 
books  printed  in  relief  must  necessarily  be 
great,  and  their  number  consequently  lim- 
ited, but  adds  that,  as  the  tendency  of 
knowledge  is  towards  selection,  the  library 
of  the  blind  man  may  come  in  time  to  cor- 
respond with  that  of  the  man  of  good  liter- 
ary taste.  That  this  prediction  was  true 
is  shown  by  the  catalogue  of  books  for  the 
blind,  now  printed  in  this  country,  in  which 
we  find  not  only  the  Bible  and  Shakespeare, 
but  other  English  classics,  such  as  Bunyan, 
Defoe,  Scott,  Thackeray,  and  Hawthorne. 

12 


of  his  discovery,  he  called  Haiiy,  who  forth- 
with traced  with  the  haudle  of  a  small  pen- 
knife more  letters  on  the  same  paper,  and 
when  Lesneur  read  those  also  by  touch,  his 
teacher's  quick  brain  had  seized  the  idea  of 
printing  from  types  cast  in  high  relief. 

One  pupil  was  not  enough  for  Haiiy,  who 
wished  to  establish  a  school  rather  than  to 
astonish  the  world  by  a  single  prodigy,  and, 
fortunately  for  him,  the  Philanthropic  So- 
ciety, which  had  been  recently  founded,  in- 
cluded among  its  beneficiaries  twelve  blind 
children.  These  ho  obtained  permission  to 
take  into  his  own  home,  and  then  began  for 
him  a  struggle  lasting  through  tho  twenty 
stormy  years  which  made  modern  Europe. 
He  could  not  afford  to  give  up  his  place  in 
the  Foreign  Office,  but  every  hour  outside 
of  it  was  claimed  by  the  real  work  of  his 
life.  To  make  this  better  known,  on  De- 
cember 26, 1786,  his  scholars,  who  then  num- 
bered twenty-four,  gave  an  exhibition  be- 
fore the  King  at  Versailles,  where,  after 
going  through  various  exercises,  and  sing- 
ing a  loyal  ode  composed  by  one  of  them, 
they  presented  his  Majesty  with  the  first 
book  printed  from  the  new  relief  type,  which 
had  been  set  up  and  struck  off  by  them- 
selves. The  title  was  Easai  sur  V  Edncn- 


tion  des  Avetiglcs,  and  Haiiy  was  naturally 
the  antbor.  Outside  of  its  value  as  a  typo- 
graphical curiosity,  the  book  is  most  inter- 
esting, because  the  earnest  and  kindly  nat- 
ure of  the  writer  reveals  itself  throughout. 
He  says  honestly  that  he  had  seen  a  letter 
printed  by  Mile.  Paradies  from  type  made 
for  her  by  one  Kempellen,  but  certainly  no 
one  before  Haiiy  had  ever  tried  seriously  to 
make  printing  available  for  the  blind.  He 
is  convinced  that  they  may  be  practical 
printers  of  books,  not  only  for  their  own 
manual  reading,  but  from  ordinary  type, 
and  he  gives  elaborate  descriptions  of  the 
"cases"  most  suitable  for  them,  and  sug- 
gests modifications  of  the  presses  then  iu 
use.  He  acknowledges  that  the  cost  of 
books  printed  in  relief  must  necessarily  be 
great,  and  their  number  consequently  lim- 
ited, but  adds  that,  as  the  tendency  of 
knowledge  is  towards  selection,  the  library 
of  the  blind  man  may  come  iu  time  to  cor- 
respond with  that  of  the  man  of  good  liter- 
ary taste.  That  this  prediction  was  true 
is  shown  by  the  catalogue  of  books  for  the 
blind,  now  printed  in  this  country,  in  which 
•we  find  not  only  the  Bible  and  Shakespeare, 
but  other  English  classics,  such  as  Bunyan, 
Defoe,  Scott,  Thackeray,  and  Hawthorne. 

12 


178 


Il.iliy  suggests  that  his  discovery  may  bo 
of  use  to  such  learned  men  as  shall  wear  out 
their  sight  iu  scientific  pursuits,  and  regrets, 
with  naive  simplicity,  that  Homer,  Belisa- 
rius,  and  Milton  should  have  been  unable  to 
profit  by  it.  He  extols  the  Abbe  de  1'Epee, 
who  had  begun  to  teach  the  deaf  and  dumb 
in  1750,  and  ends  by  declaring  that  more 
than  all  else  his  pupils  shall  be  taught  to 
rejoice  that  they  are  born  Frenchmen  and 
destined  to  live  under  the  beneficent  rule  of 
a  monarch  whose  millions  of  subjects  re- 
gard him  with  the  respectful  tenderness  of 
a  family  for  the  father  who  is  the  source  of 
their  happiness. 

Making  all  due  allowance  for  the  loyalty 
of  an  official  and  the  expectations  of  a  phi- 
lanthropist, these  words  sound  strangely 
\vhen  one  remembers  that  six  months  ear- 
lier the  Queen  had  been  insulted  in  the 
streets  because  of  the  Diamond  Necklace, 
and  that  within  the  year  the  Parliament  of 
Paris  refused  to  authorize  the  taxes  imposed 
by  the  King. 

As  a  result  of  the  entertainment  before 
the  Court,  Louis  XVI.  ordered  that  the 
school,  already  known  as  the  "  Institution 
des  Jeunes  Aveugles,"  should  be  supported 
by  the  State,  and  promised  its  teacher  the 


179 


cross  of  St.  Michael;  but  neither  the  money 
nor  the  order  was  ever  forthcoming,  ami 
Huiiy  struggled  on  through  the  Revolution 
and  the  Terror,  working  at  his  desk  in  the 
Foreign  Office  for  his  bread,  and  sharing  it 
to  the  last  crust  with  the  pupils  whom  ho 
kept  together  at  the  risk  of  beggary.  In 
June,  1794,  at  the  celebrated  Fete  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  one  car  in  the  procession 
was  filled  with  his  blind  children,  and  in 
1795,  the  Convention  decreed  that  the  school 
was  an  "  Institution  Natiouale,"  to  be  sup- 
ported by  a  certain  sum  from  each  depart- 
ment throughout  France.  The  Treasury 
either  overlooked  the  allowance  altogether, 
or  paid  it  in  worthless  bonds,  so  the  Institu- 
tion was  no  better  off,  and  only  the  help  of 
a  few  benevolent  souls  kept  the  little  group 
from  starving  together  or  drifting  apart. 
This  could  not  go  on  forever,  and  in  1801,  by 
order  of  the  First  Consul,  Hauy's  school  was 
absorbed  into  the  Hotel  des  Qninze-Viugts, 
and  he  forced  to  retire  on  a  yearly  pension 
of  two  thousand  francs.  It  almost  broke 
his  heart.  His  biographer  says:  "By  an 
incredible  effort  of  industry  and  patience 
and  self-sacrifice,  he  had  managed  to  carry 
through  the  Revolution  the  work  in  which 
his  soul  was  absorbed,  only  to  see  it  destroy- 


180 


ed  \vbeu  all  else  arouiul  him  began  to  be 
reorganized."  As  there  was  no  system  of 
education  in  the  Qninze-Vingts,  the  pupils 
whom  he  had  hoped  to  make  useful  and 
happy  men  and  women  were  compelled  to 
sit  idle,  or  drudge  all  day  at  spinning  wool, 
while  he  was  shelved  ou  a  pension  at  the 
age  of  fifty-six. 

Withstubborn  patience  hegathered  around 
him  the  next  year  a  few  children  whose  par- 
ents could  afford  to  pay  for  their  teaching, 
and  started  what  he  called  the  "  Mnsee  des 
Avengles."  Men  ahead  of  their  time  seldom 
have  the  knack  of  making  money,  so  the 
affairs  of  the  school  went  from  bad  to  worse, 
until  1808,  when  he  accepted  the  repeated 
invitations  of  the  Czar  Alexander  I.,  and 
started  for  Russia  with  his  Avife  and  a  pet 
pupil  named  Fournier,  making  a  sort  of 
triumphal  progress  through  the  domains  of 
the  various  princes  who  were  then  amusing 
themselves  with  philanthropy.  The  King 
of  Prussia,  Frederick  William  III.,  who  was 
the  husband  of  the  beautiful  Queen  Louisa, 
and  father  of  the  Emperor  William  I.,  wrote 
with  his  own  hand  inviting  him  to  Charlot- 
teubnrg,  and  employed  him  to  found  the  first 
public  institution  for  the  blind  in  Germany, 
which  was  conducted  by  John  Augustus 


182 


charge  of  the  Institution  des  Aveugles  was 
liberal  enough  to  feel  that  Hatty  had  been 
treated  with  gross  injustice,  and  a  festival 
was  given  in  his  honor,  in  which  all  the 
scholars  took  part.  The  orchestra  and  cho- 
rus gave  a  cantata  composed  for  the  tirst 
feast-day  of  St.  Valentine,  celebrated  at  the 
school  in  1788,  one  verse  of  which  praised 
him  as  its  benefactor.  At  its  end  the  old 
mau,  who  was  paralyzed  and  failing  fast, 
said  simply:  "My  dear  children,  you  owe 
everything  to  God."  He  was  always  modest, 
and  when  any  one  compared  him  to  the  Abb6 
de  I'fipee,  he  would  protest,  saying,  "  I  only 
fit  spectacles,  while  he  bestows  a  soul."  * 

Although  all  honor  is  due  to  the  man  who 
first  gave  the  blind  communication  other 
than  speech  with  their  fellow-men,  Hatty's 
discovery  was  not  practically  successful. 
The  relief  of  his  letters  was  too  low,  and 
their  forms  too  complicated  to  be  read  by 
any  but  a  few -scholars  with  an  exquisitely 
sensitive  touch,  so  that  most  of  the  editions 
of  the  few  books  printed  from  his  type  were 


*  The  foregoing  account  of  Hauy  has  been  taken  from 
an  interesting  book  published  last  year,  called  Let  Aveu- 
g'.e*  par  Un  Aveugle,  by  M.  Maurice  de  la  Sizeninne,  a 
pupil  of  the  Institution  des  Jounes  Aveugk-s,  which  is 
still  the  leading  school  in  France. 


183 


sold  for  waste-paper,  and  the  pupils  of  the 
Institution  which  he  fouuded  were  chiefly 
taught  orally. 

The  school  for  the  Indigent  Blind,  which 
was  opened  at  Liverpool  in  1791,  was  the 
first  establishment  of  the  kind  in  Great 
Britain,  and  although  it  was  followed  within 
a  few  years  by  others  in  Bristol,  Edinburgh, 
and  London,  no  definite  plan  of  education 
was  developed  until,  in  1826,  James  Gall,  a 
printer  and  publisher  of  Edinburgh,  saw  some 
specimens  of  Haiiy's  printing,  and  obtained 
a  box  of  his  type.  His  practical  knowledge 
led  him  to  see  its  defects,  and  he  set  him- 
self to  improve  the  alphabet,  in  order  to 
make  it  more  easily  felt,  being  induced  to 
enter  into  the  work  by  Lady  Jane  Erskiue, 
sister  of  the  Earl  of  Mar,  who  was  herself 
blind.  Gall  rejected  the  French  script, 
choosing  the  "lower-case,"  or  small  letters, 
making  no  use  of -capitals  and  further  modi- 
fying the  outlines  of  the  letters  into  angles, 
as  they  are  more  easily  recognized  by  the 
finger.  His  great  work,  the  Gospd  of  St. 
John,  was  published  in  1834.  This  is  often 
spoken  of  as  the  first  book  of  the  Bible  ever 
printed  for  the  blind  in  any  language,  but 
the  Gospel  of  St.  Mark  was  published  in 
Philadelphia,  in  February,  1833.  The  type 


181 


of  the  latter,  which  resembles  Haiiy's,  was 
designed  by  Jacob  Suyder,  Jr.,  Recording 
Secretary  of  the  Pennsylvania  Institution, 
but  it  had  the  defects  of  its  model,  and  after 
a  few  volumes  had  been  printed  it  ceased  to 
be  used. 

Experiments  were  made  with  no  less  than 
twenty  different  styles  of  printing  in  relief 
in  the  ten  years  between  1828  and  1838,  and 
of  these  five  obtained  recognition.  Three 
of  them,  Hatty's  script,  Gall's  angular  "  low- 
er-case," and  the  Alston  plain  "upper-case," 
using  only  capitals,  were  Roman ;  one,  that 
of  Moon,  was  au  extreme  modification  of 
these  forms,  made  especially  for  those  whose 
touch  was  dull  from  age  or  hard  work,  while 
Frore's  was  phonetic,  having  arbitrary  signs 
to  represent  sounds.  The  defect  of  them  all 
lay  in  their  failure  to  recognize  the  fact  that 
the  sense  of  touch  has  no  quality  by  which 
it  cau  take  the  place  of  sight,  and  is  in  no 
way  quickened  by  the  memory  of  what  has 
been  seen  ;  some  of  the  blind  could  certainly 
read,  but  the  alphabet  of  the  seeing,  even  if 
modified,  was  only  to  be  traced  by  them  with 
difficulty  and  hesitation. 

The  next  step  forward  was  again  in 
France.  An  artillery  officer  named  Charles 
Barbier,  who  had  been  a  surveyor  here  dur- 


135 


ing  our  Revolution,  aud  who  had  some  fort- 
une, became  mucli  interested  in  the  blind, 
lu  1819  he  had  the  happy  idea  of  making 
points  or  dots  with  a  blunt  stylus  on  thick 
paper,  to  be  variously  placed  so  that  they 
should  represent  the  thirty  -  six  principal 
sounds  of  the  French  language.  They  were 
arranged  vertically  within  a  frame  or  "  cell," 
in  two  lines,  with  room  for  six  points  on  a 
side,  an  idea  perhaps  suggested  to  him  by  the 
popular  game  of  dominos.  Barbier  meant 
his  invention  for  the  use  of  the  blind  who 
had  growu  up  without  learning  to  read,  but 
its  principal  drawback  lay  in  the  amount  of 
space  which  it  wasted.  As  the  cell  was  of 
fixed  size,  if  a  sound  was  represented  by  a 
point  in  one  corner,  all  the  rest  was  left 
blank,  a  great  disadvantage  in  printing.  As 
Haiiy's  script  gave  Gall  his  first  idea  of  let- 
ters in  high  relief,  which  are  the  basis  of 
the  line  system,  Barbier's  invention,  al- 
though unpractical,  was  the  foundation  of 
the  point  system,  which  is  destined  to  su- 
persede line  altogether. 

In  1809  Louis  Braille  was  born,  who  be- 
came blind  at  four  years  old,  and  was  sent 
to  the  Institution  des  Jeunes  Aveugles.  As 
he  grew  up  there  he  studied  Barbier's  meth- 
od until  he  saw  a  way  to  simplify  it,  aud 


186 


this  be  did,  when  twenty-six  years  old,  by 
abandoning  phonetics,  leaving  out  the  lower 
half  of  the  cell,  and  varying  the  combinations 
of  the  remaining  six  points  so  that  they 
should  represent  the  letters  of  the  French 
alphabet.  These  six  points  can  be  combined 
to  give  sixty-three  different  signs,  including 
accents,  punctuation,  figures,  algebraic  signs, 
and  musical  notation.  This  system  was 
soon  introduced  into  the  Institution,  and  is 
now  geuerallly  used  in  Europe.  It  was, 
however,  still  defective  in  that  the  coll  was 
of  fixed  size,  so  that  space  was  lost  unless 
there  were  points  enough  to  fill  it.  One  of 
the  greatest  merits  of  "  Braille  Point  "  was 
that  it  could  be  easily  written,  and  to  this 
end  he  devised  an  ingenious  slate,  which  is 
still  in  use.  The  bed  is  of  metal,  crossed 
horizontally  by  shallow  grooves  about  one- 
tenth  of  an  inch  apart,  which  give  it  some- 
what the  look  of  a  miniature  washboard. 
The  wooden  frame  is  hinged  at  the  top,  so 
that  it  may  close  down  and  keep  a  thick 
sheet  of  paper  in  place  on  the  bed.  The 
writing  instrument,  or  stylus,  is  a  short 
piece  of  wire,  rounded  at  the  point  in  order 
not  to  pierce  the  paper,  and  fixed  in  a  woodru 
handle.  A  narrow  strip  of  brass,  divided 
into  rectangular  cells,  stretches  across  the 


187 


slate,  aud  has  a  peg  at  each  end  which  fits 
into  holes  ia  the  frame.  This  is  the  guide, 
and  is  movable  up  and  down  the  slate. 
Through  it  the  pnpil  pricks  the  letters, 
working  from  right  to  left,  and  when  the 
paper  is  taken  out,  it  is  reversed  and  read 
like  an  ordinary  page,  from  left  to  right. 

Before  and  since  Braille's  time  various 
•writing  frames  and  contrivances  have  heen 
invented  for  the  blind,  hut  this  is  the  only 
method  by  which  they  can  not  only  write, 
but  read  by  themselves  whatever  may  be 
written  to  them. 

In  this  country  schools  for  the  blind  were 
opened  at  New  York,  Boston,  aud  Philadel- 
phia, in  the  order  named,  in  1832  and  1833, 
aud  that  of  Boston  attracted  especial  atten- 
tion because  of  the  devotion  and  talent  of  its 
first  principal,  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe.  He  went  to 
Europe  in  1830,  on  purpose  to  master  the 
various  methods  of  instruction  followed 
there;  but  at  Paris  Braille's  system  was  in 
its  infancy  and  does  not  seem  to  have  at- 
tracted his  attention,  for  in  an  extended  ac- 
count of  his  visit  no  mention  is  made  of  the 
new  idea.  He  presently  adopted  the  angu- 
lar lower-case  type,  in  the  style  of  Gall, 
and  as  early  as  1842,  the  whole  Bible, 
printed  in  this  so-called  Boston  type,  was 


188 


distributed,  free  of  cost,  by  the  American 
Bible  Society. 

Dr.  Howe's  fame  will  probably  chiefly  rest 
oil  his  successful  rescue  of  Laura  Bridge- 
man,  who  came  under  his  care  in  1837,  from 
the  terrible  isolation  in  which  she  was  placed 
by  being  deaf  and  dumb  as  well  as  blind, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  over-estimate  his 
services  to  the  Boston  school,  and  to  tlie 
cause  of  the  blind  in  general.  Dr.  Howe 
•was  not  only  excellent,  but  the  cause  of  ex- 
cellence in  others  ;  and  it  was  his  good-fort- 
une, as  well  as  his  due,  to  inspire  enthusi- 
asm for  himself  as  well  as  for  his  work. 
When  the  Massachusetts  Asylum  for  the 
Blind  was  first  started,  money  for  it  came 
in  but  slowly,  until  Thomas  Hamlasyd  Per- 
kins made  the  noble  donation  which  has 
linked  his  name  endiiringly  with  the  work. 
Throughout  his  life  Howe  had  a  host  of 
friends,  and  it  was  but  natural  that,  at  his 
death,  in  1876,  his  soii-iu-law,  Mr.  Michael 
Anagnos,  should  have  been  chosen  to  suc- 
ceed him,  while,  as  a  further  expression  of 
affectionate  admiration,  the  Howe  Memorial 
Press  was  endowed  l>y  subscription  to  con- 
tinue printing  books  in  the  type  with  which 
he  was  identified. 

The  New  York  Institution  for  the  Blind 


189 


had  early  adopted  the  Boston  line  letter, 
and  for  some  years  bad  used  printed  books 
in  no  other  form,  when  Mr.  William  B.  Wait 
became  its  principal  in  1863.  Educated  for 
the  bar,  he  had  already  entered  upon  prac- 
tice, when  his  health  broke  down  from  over- 
work, and  he  took  a  position  as  teacher  iu 
the  Institution,  intending  to  give  it  up  so 
soon  as  he  should  be  well  again.  But  with 
renewed  health  came  keener  interest  iu 
what  he  saw  were  problems  to  be  solved, 
and  on  the  retirement  of  Mr.  R.  G.  Rankin, 
he  took  the  place  which  he  has  since  filled 
with  entire  singleness  of  purpose  and  marked 
ability.  He  was  at  ouce  struck  by  the  fact 
that  many  of  the  children  did  not  read,  and 
that  text-books  were  not  employed  iu  class 
work.  The  published  literature  was  con- 
siderable, but  it  was  of  no  use  unless  the 
pupils  could  read  well.  The  entire  school 
was  therefore  arranged  in  graded  classes, 
new  alphabet  cards  were  procured,  and 
much  extra  time  was  given  to  the  slower 
pupils,  while  the  class  grading  was  rear- 
ranged from  week  to  week.  At  the  end  of 
two  years  it  was  found  that  twenty  per 
cent,  could  read  with  facility  ;  forty-eight 
per  cent,  moderately  well,  and  thirty-two 
per  cent,  were  unable  to  read  at  all.  Sta- 


190 


tistics  collected  from  other  large  schools 
showed  that  of  their  pupils  from  twenty-two 
to  forty-eight  per  cent,  could  read  with  fa- 
cility; eighteen  to  thirty  -iiine  per  cent, 
moderately  well,  while  fifty-eight  to  four- 
teen per  cent,  could  not  read  at  all.  These 
figures  do  not  include  the  Boston  school, 
which  did  not  furnish  any  statistics. 

As  most  of  the  figures  seemed  to  indicate 
different  standard  ^or  better  methods,  Mr. 
Wait  visited  several  schools,  including  that 
of  Boston,  and  found  that  while  the  pupils 
were  about  alike  as  to  age  and  ability, 
there  was  no  standard  of  classification  in 
reading.  The  group  of  uon- readers  in- 
cluded some  of  the  most  intelligent,  while 
the  capacity  for  touch-reading  was  no  test 
of  mental  capacity.  The  books  were  gen- 
erally in  Boston  type,  but  text-books  were 
nowhere  used  in  the  classes,  while  the 
Braille  system,  although  known  to  a  few — 
chiefly  teachers — was  not  recognized  in  the 
course  of  study  in  any  school.  Mr.  Wait 
found  himself  reluctantly  forced  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  line-letter  systems  were  no 
longer  adequate,  as  they  failed  to  fulfil  the 
requisite  conditions  of  touch  perception,  and 
could  not  be  written. 

About  1860  Braille  Point  had  been  taught 


191 


in  the  St.  Louis  school,  with  the  result  that 
out  of  sixty-nine  pupils  forty-five  were  able 
to  read  with  facility  and  twenty-four  mod- 
erately well.  In  New  York  a  test  was  made 
with  eight  pupils,  who,  after  long  and  pa- 
tient effort,  had  utterly  failed  to  distinguish 
the  Boston  letters  one  from  another.  From 
five  to  thirty  lessons  were  given  with  the 
point  letters,  and  in  each  case  they  succeed- 
ed well,  while  in  eleven  lessons  given  to  the 
entire  school  the  tangible  efficiency  of  the 
point  system  was  proved  with  every  pupil. 
Further  study  of  Braille  convinced  Mr.  Wait 
that  the  vertical  cell,  which  had  been  de- 
rived from  Barbier,  and  which  allotted  a 
fixed  and  unvarying  space  to  all  signs  alike, 
whether  they  had  many  points  or  few,  did 
not  follow  the  most  correct  principle  of 
construction,  besides  wasting  space,  which 
meant  in  a  book  increase  of  bulk  and  con- 
sequently of  cost.  The  finger,  also,  like  the 
eye,  ran  more  easily  across  the  paper  than 
up  and  down.  He  therefore  placed  his 
points  so  that  they  read  horizontally  in- 
stead of  vertically,  and  did  away  with  the 
fixed  cell,  the  result  being  that  a  letter 
made  up  of  two  points  occupied  one-third 
as  much  room  as  one  composed  of  six  points, 
the  same  space  remaining  between  the  let- 


192 


ters  as  before.  With  the  aid  of  some  typo 
and  a  small  press,  the  new  method  was 
critically  and  thoroughly  tested,  and  in 
1868  Mr.  Wait  published  it  and  made  an  ef- 
fort to  secure  the  adhesion  of  Boston  and 
Philadelphia  to  a  point  system,  though  not 
necessarily  to  his  own.  At  that  time  the 
whole  country  was  almost  entirely  depend- 
ent on  the  Boston  press  for  embossed  books, 
and  the  proposal  to  change  was  not  accept- 
ed. Among  other  teachers,  however,  the 
New  York  Point  steadily  grew  in  favor,  and 
at  the  first  meeting  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation of  Instructors  of  the  Blind,  held  at 
Indianapolis  in  1871,  the  superintendent  of 
the  St.  Louis  school,  which  had  been  the 
pioneer  of  Braille  in  this  country,  gave  hia 
reasons  for  preferring  Mr.  Wait's  system, 
and  the  New  York  Point  was  recommended 
for  nse  in  all  institutions  for  the  education 
of  the  blind.  An  important  improvement 
in  the  new  system  was  the  adoption  of  the 
principle  of  recurrence,  as  used  in  short- 
hand and  telegraphy,  by  which  letters  most 
frequently  needed  have  the  simplest  forms. 
Capitals  had  never  been  used  in  either  of 
the  line  systems,  but  some  publications 
were  brought  out  in  Philadelphia  in  which 
capitals  and  small  letters  appeared  in  their 


193 


usual  relations.  The  combination  was  cer- 
tainly not  easier  to  read  than  the  "  lower- 
case" aloue  bad  been,  but  it  was  considered 
au  improvement,  and  in  1878,  after  Dr. 
Howe's  death,  it  was  adopted  in  the  Boston 
school. 

Objection  having  been  made  to  the  New 
York  Point  in  some  quarters,  because  it  had 
no  capitals  nor  musical  notation,  Mr.  Wait 
set  himself  to  provide  both,  and  produced 
an  effective  and  rational  code  of  musical 
signs,  which  was  at  once  placed  among  the 
regular  branches  of  study  in  a  number  of 
the  schools. 

As  far  back  as  1858  the  Legislature  of 
Kentucky  had  established  the  American 
Printing  House  for  the  Blind,  at  Louisville, 
the  object  being  to  have  a  central  press  to 
which  each  State  should  contribute  funds, 
in  order  to  furnish  books  for  the  various 
asylums.  Some  States  responded,  but  oth- 
ers did  not,  and  the  work  dragged  along 
until  1879,  when  all  the  great  schools,  ex- 
cept Bostpu,  which  had  its  own  press,  unit- 
ed in  urging  Congress  to  grant  a  subsidy 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  Printing  House 
on  an  efficient  footing.  The  sum  of  $10,000 
a  year  was  appropriated  for  the  purpose, 
and  now  nearly  all  the  printing  for  the 

13 


194 


blind  throughout  the  country  is  done  there. 
The  Printing  House  is  a  curious  combina- 
tion of  business  and  charity.  It  sells  as 
well  as  gives  away  its  books,  but  is  forbid- 
den to  make  any  profit  on  them.  Although 
a  private  corporation,  it  is  subsidized  by  the 
Government,  and  each  superintendent  of  a 
public  institution  for  the  education  of  the 
blind  is  by  right  of  his  office  one  of  its  trus- 
tees. The  principals  of  institutions  form 
an  advisory  council,  and  decide  what  books 
shall  be  printed  each  year,  which  are  divided 
among  the  schools  according  to  the  uuinber 
of  their  pupils.  An  interesting  part  of  the 
work  of  the  Printing  House  is  the  weekly 
issue  of  "  International  Sunday-school  Les- 
sons," in  duplicate  editions  of  line  .and  point 
print,  by  which  two  thousand  blind  children 
in  Sunday  -  schools  scattered  all  over  the 
country  receive  their  lessons  with  text  and 
comment  specially  edited  for  them. 

Any  one  who  goes  about  on  the  west  side 
of  New  York  knows  the  large  and  some- 
what stern  gray  building  which  stands 
back  in  its  grounds  at  the  corner  of  Thirty- 
fourth  Street  and  Ninth  Avenue.  It  is  the 
New  York  Institution  for  the  Blind,  sup- 
ported by  private  endowment,  and  also  by 
the  State,  which  allows  $250  a  year  for 


195 


each  child  sent  by  it,  usually  from  the 
city  or  its  neighborhood,  as  there  is  another 
State  School  for  the  Blind  at  Batavia.  Only 
within  the  walls  of  the  institution  can  its 
methods  bo  readily  studied.  If  the  visit  is 
made  duriug  a  "recess"  in  school  hours, 
the  long  halls  are  apt  to  be  filled  with  a 
crowd  of  children,  chattering  away  with 
the  proverbial  cheerfulness  of  the  blind, 
and  walking  or  running  almost  as  firmly 
and  freely  as  though  they  could  see.  When 
two  or  three  together  come  straight  along, 
it  is  instinctive  to  draw  back  against  a  wall 
or  into  a  doorway,  and  as  they  pass  within 
a  foot  unheeding,  it  is  impossible  not  to 
have  an  uncanny  feeling  that  "  we  have 
the  receipt  of  fern-seed,  we  walk  invisible." 
In  the  central  court-yards,  on  the  boys'  side, 
leap-frog  or  wrestling  are  going  on  ;  while 
in  a  corner  of  the  girls'  playground,  two  of 
them  are  turning  the  rope  vigorously, 
while  the  third  steps  back  and  forth,  wait- 
ing to  "run  in"  and  jump,  just  as  her 
luckier  sister  who  can  see  may  be  doing  in 
any  street  or  square  outside.  Bells  take 
the  place  of  clocks  in  marking  time  for 
this  darkling  world,  and  as  they  sound 
the  children  go  to  their  different  class- 
rooms. There  are  now  two  hundred  and 


196 


ten  pupils  iu  the  Institution,  the  average 
age  being  about  fourteen.  They  are  not 
admitted  younger  than  eight,  iu  order  not 
to  lessen  the  responsibility  which  their 
parents  should  always  feel  for  them,  and 
which  is  apt  to  be  lost  if  the  State  takes 
charge  of  them  too  early.  When  a  child 
comes,  it  is  put  into  the  kindergarten,  and 
the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  teach  it  to 
use  its  hands  and  feet  properly.  The  cases 
where  a  blind  child  is  abused  at  home  are 
happily  rare,  and  it  is  more  likely  to  have 
been  treated  as  if  it  could  not  possibly  do 
anything  for  itself.  All  movements  where 
balance  and  equilibrium  are  concerned  arc 
hard  for  it,  as  any  one  may  see  who  watches 
the  shuffling  gait  and  awkward  motions  of 
a  blind  person  who  has  grown  up  untaught. 
To  correct  this,  calisthenics  are  largely  era- 
ployed,  to  the  evident  delight  of  the 
children,  and  for  quieter  occupations  they 
weave  paper-mats,  stitch  outlines  of  rabbits 
on  card-board,  and  follow  generally  the 
course  of  instructive  play  which  has  carried 
Froebel's  name  over  the  world.  People  in 
general  have  a  comfortable  impression  that, 
while  blindness  is  a  great  misfortune,  those 
afflicted  with  it  have  the  rest  of  their 
senses  so  acute  from  birth  that  the  loss  is 


197 


almost  made  up  to  them.  This  is  a  mis- 
take, for  not  more  than  five  per  cent,  are  horu 
blind,  and  even  that  percentage  is  probably 
too  large,  as  there  are  several  diseases  of  the 
eye  which  may  destroy  the  sight  within 
the  first  month.  It  is  true,  however,  that 
the  other  senses  develop  highly  with  prac- 
tice. When  all  is  dark  around  us  it  is 
usually  also  quiet,  and  our  perceptions  are 
slackened;  but  if  any  one  will  tie  a  thick 
bandage  over  his  eyes  during  the  day,  when 
life  and  movement  are  going  on  about  him, 
he  will  soon  be  conscious  of  listening  with 
painful  intentness,  and  the  other  senses, 
when  called  upon,  will  quicken  in  their 
turn.  Many  children  with  sound  eyes  shut 
them  when  studying  intently,  and  the  fact 
that  a  blind  boy,  for  instance,  is  quicker  at 
arithmetic  than  one  who  can  see,  does  not,  in 
most  cases,  mean  that  he  is  more  gifted,  but 
that  he  has  less  to  distract  his  attention. 
The  first  time  that  an  outsider  sees  a  large 
class  of  blind  children  together  he  will 
perhaps  be  struck  by  certain  peculiarities 
of  expression.  It  is  not  only  that  the 
sightless  eyes  or  closed  lids  give  the  face  a 
blank  look,  like  a  house  with  the  shades 
drawn  down,  but  that  there  may  be  a 
dropping  of  the  jaw,  or  a  wrinkling  of  the 


193 


brow,  which  does  not  mean  any  lack  of 
intelligence,  but  only  that  a  human  being 
is  forever  deprived  of  the  friendly  mirror 
and  monition  of  other  eyes.  Good  teachers 
are  always  on  the  alert  to  correct  these 
involuntary  facial  tricks.  The  studies  and 
exercises  are  carefully  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  the  pupils.  Gymnastics  have  an  impor- 
tant place,  because  physical  health  and 
equable  muscular  development  are  especially 
necessary  to  the  blind,  whose  affliction,  when 
not  caused  by  accident,  is  often  due  to  in- 
herited disease  or  constitutional  weakness. 
Mr.  Stephen  Babcock,  himself  blind  from 
boyhood,  has  been  a  highly  valued  and 
valuable  teacher  of  geography  and  mathe- 
matics in  the  Institution  for  the  past  thirty 
years.  Formerly  pupils  studied  geography 
by  passing  their  fingers  over  relief  maps 
hung  on  the  wall,  but  the  result  attained 
was  unsatisfactory,  and  in  1856  Mr.  T.  C. 
Cooper,  who  was  then  superintendent,  gave 
Mr.  Babcock  the  pieces  of  an  ordinary  dis- 
sected map,  such  as  children  play  with,  and 
asked  him  to  put  it  together  again.  This 
he  did  readily,  and  now  maps  were  there- 
upon made,  dissected  as  well  as  in  relief, 
and  placed  on  tables,  so  that  each  country, 
State,  or  even  county,  can  bo  taken  up  and 


studied  separately.  Coast-lines  are  raised 
above  the  water,  river  courses  are  depressed, 
mountains  indicated  by  slight  elevations, 
while  screws  or  tacks,  with  heads  of  various 
sizes  and  shapes,  serve  for  capitals  and 
other  cities  of  importance.  If  it  were  only 
not  so  pathetic  it  would  be  amusing  to  see 
a  child  sitting  in  a  corner  feeling  and  strok- 
ing Rhode  Island  or  Texas  over  and  over, 
as  a  little  girl  strokes  the  face  of  her  favor- 
ite doll.  As  a  result,  the  children  come  to 
know  every  part  of  a  map  by  touch,  and 
when  it  is  all  jumbled  up  they  can  sort  and 
fit  it  together  again  with  wonderful  quick- 
ness. The  distribution  of  land  and  water 
and  the  political  divisions  of  the  eastern 
and  western  hemispheres  are  shown  upon 
planisphere  maps  five  feet  in  diameter, 
which  revolve  on  a  vertical  axis,  while  the 
earth  is  represented  by  large  globes  with 
brass  meridians  and  raised  equators  marked 
off  in  degrees. 

Mental  arithmetic  is  much  employed, 
although  there  are  text-books  in  the  classes ; 
and  for  the  solution  of  problems  in  advanced 
arithmetic  or  algebra,  which  are  too  long 
and  complicated  to  be  carried  in  the  mem- 
ory, types  are  used.  On  each  end  of  the 
typo -cube  is  a  number,  letter,  or  other 


200 


arithmetical  symbol.  These,  with  the  point 
letters  of  the  New  York  system  furnish  the 
means  for  algebraic  work.  The  types  are 
adjusted  in  a  frame  or  slate  of  metal  filled 
with  square  holes,  which  is  almost  the  same 
as  that  invented  nearly  two  hundred  years 
ago  by  Saunderson. 

In  music  there  are  seven  graded,  classes, 
which  are  under  the  general  supervision  of 
Miss  Hannah  Babcock,  a  thorough  musician 
who  has  been  of  the  greatest  use  to  Mr. 
Wait  in  developing  his  system  of  musical 
notation.  The  children  begin  with  class 
singing  by  ear,  and  afterwards  the  study  of 
elementary  harmony  and  that  of  the  New 
York  Point  musical  notation,  which  has 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  distinct  signs, 
are  carried  on  together.  If  pupils  show 
talent  they  are  taught  to  play  the  piano  or 
the  organ,  and  are  also  further  instructed 
in  harmony  and  in  counterpoint. 

The  American  College  of  Music  is  an 
incorporated  body,  counting  among  its  mem- 
bers some  of  the  foremost  musicians  and 
tcacliers  in  the  country.  There  are  three 
degrees,  that  of  Associate,  Fellow,  and 
Master,  which  are  conferred  in  order  upon 
any  one  who  is  able  to  pass  the  rigid  exam- 
inations prescribed.  Henry  Tscluidi,  a  boy 


201 


of  seventeen,  bliud  from  birth,  and  educated 
in  the  Institution,  passed  his  examination 
in  June,  1891,  in  harmony,  counterpoint, 
the  history  of  music,  musical  form,  termi- 
nology, acoustics,  and  the  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  the  organ.  It  was  necessary  for 
the  candidate  to  play  at  command  composi- 
tions by  Bach,  Handel,  Mendelssohn,  and 
other  composers,  in  polyphonic  sonata,  and 
free  forms,  also  to  transpose,  to  harmonize 
a  figured  bass,  improvise  upon  a  given  theme, 
and  to  determine  the  pitch  of  tones  by  ear. 
The  demonstrative  examination  at  the  or- 
gan was  conducted  by  Mr.  S.  P.  Warren, 
Mr.  George  E.  Whiting,  and  Mr.  J.  B.  Whit- 
ney, and  Tschudi  received  92.80  per  cent., 
being  the  first  blind  person  to  pass  this 
examination.  Except  in  acoustics,  his 
teacher  in  all  these  branches  was  Miss  Bab- 
cock,  and  his  case  may  be  regarded  not 
only  as  a  proof  of  signal  ability,  but  as  a 
triumph  of  scientific  teaching. 

Another  pupil  of  whom  the  Institution  is 
justly  proud  is  Mr.  Lewis  B.  Carll,  also  born 
blind,  who  was  prepared  for  Columbia 
College  in  the  English  branches  within  its 
walls.  On  leaving  it  he  studied  the 
classics  at  Fairchild's  Institute  at  Flush- 
ing, Long  Island,  near  his  home.  A  fellow- 


pupil  dictated  to  him  Latin  or  Greek,  and 
he  printed  the  text  iu  Now  York  Poiut.  In 
writing  Latin  he,  of  course,  used  English 
letters,  but  for  Greek  he  invented  his  own 
symbols.  He  could  print  about  twenty- 
five  liues  of  Virgil  in  an  hour,  and  almost 
as  much  Greek,  and  during  his  college 
course  he  printed  more  than  three  thousand 
sheets.  His  mathematics  were  also  read  to 
him,  and  iu  geometry  his  diagrams  wei'o 
made  in  point  by  a  brother  who  could  see, 
and  Carll  then  learnt  them  by  touch.  With 
a  firm  mind  and  steady  enthusiasm  he 
worked  on  and  brought  to  college  with  him 
his  point-printed  classics  and  mathematics. 
He  rarely  needed  a  diagram  for  a  proposi- 
tion iu  geometry,  for  so  accurate  was  his 
understanding  of  the  theorem  to  be  proved, 
and  so  precise  his  mental  perception  of  the 
figure  iu  all  its  parts,  that  he  could  make 
the  whole  demonstration  orally  with  perfect 
clearness. 

Mr.  Carll  graduated  from  Columbia  in  1870, 
being  a  classmate  of  the  present  President, 
Mr.  Low,  and  was  bracketed  for  second 
place  in  a  class  of  thirty.  He  also  deliv- 
ered the  class  oration.  While  in  college  he 
became  curious  about  the  Calculus  of 
Variations,  and  after  leaving  it  he  found 


203 


great  difficulty  in  procuring  anything  which 
would  settle  the  matter  in  his  mind.  Hav- 
ing collected  all  the  available  information, 
he  decided  that  there  was  need  for  a  new 
treatise  on  the  subject,  but  the  necessary 
material  was  widely  scattered  through 
mathematical  journals,  many  of  them  being 
in  French  or  German.  These  he  had  trans- 
lated to  him,  and  he  worked  out  the  equa- 
tions by  himself,  taking  nothing  for  granted. 
With  infinite  pains  and  patience  he  suc- 
ceeded in  writing  an  exhaustive  treatise, 
for  which,  after  some  difficulty,  he  found  a 
publisher,  on  condition  that  a  certain  num- 
ber of  subscribers  were  guaranteed.  These 
he  secured  himself,  going  about  the  city  for 
the  purpose,  sometimes  with  a  companion, 
but  often  alone.  It  was  a  fitting  reward 
for  so  much  pluck  and  perseverance  that 
the  book  should  have  been  well  received, 
and  another  edition  already  issued,  of  which 
the  larger  part  has  been  sent  to  England. 
Mr.  Carll  now  lectures  at  Columbia  College 
twice  a  week,  to  graduates,  on  the  Calculus 
of  Variations,  and  supports  himself  by 
giving  lessons  in  mathematics.  He  lives 
in  New  Jersey,  and  comes  to  New  York 
every  day  alone,  going  sometimes  as  far  as 
Harlem. 


204 


It  seems  as  though  it  were  ouly  in  a  few 
such  cases  of  brilliaut  talent  that  there  can 
be  any  real  competition  between  the  blind 
and  the  seeing;  but  a  blind  child,  like  one 
who  has  lost  an  arm  or  leg,  may  learn  to 
make  the  most  of  what  is  left  to  him,  and 
to  that  end  the  work-rooms  of  the  Institu- 
tion claim  their  full  share  of  each  day.  The 
boys  are  taught  to  make  mattresses,  to  cane 
chairs,  and  if  they  have  ear  and  brain 
enough  to  be  tuners,  there  are  models  by 
which  they  may  become  familiar  with  the 
anatomy  of  the  piano.  The  girls  learn  to 
knit  and  sew  by  hand  and  on  machines ; 
they  embroider  and  make  coarse  lace,  ami 
are  also  taught  cooking  on  little  gas-stoves. 
Not  long  ago  one  of  them  had  to  go  home 
because  her  mother  was  ill,  and  on  her 
return  she  was  heard  to  say,  half  in  joke 
and  half  in  earnest :  "It  was  a  bad  day  for 
me  when  I  learnt  to  cook,  for  I  was  kept  at 
it  all  the  time." 

The  list  which  is  kept  of  the  occupations 
followed  by  pupils  after  they  leave  the 
school  gives  some  curious  reading.  One  of 
the  tuners  in  Steinwq,y's  warerooms  is  a 
graduate,  and  another  was  for  some  years 
the  organist  of  Dr.  Howard  Crosby's  church. 
An  insurance  broker,  a  prosperous  news- 


205 


vender  who  owns  three  stalls,  a  horse- 
dealer,  a  tax-collector,  a  real-estate  agent, 
a  florist,  are  all  duly  recorded ;  but  the 
most  astonishing  entries  are  those  of  a 
lumberman,  a  sailor  and  cook,  and  a  switch- 
tender.  Once  outside  the  walls  of  the 
Institution  the  pupils  find  their  own  level 
according  to  their  ability ;  but  wherever 
they  may  go  they  always  keep  a  friendly 
feeling  for  the  teachers  who  have  literally 
led  them  forth,  so  far  as  may  be,  from  the 
shadow  of  a  great  darkness,  and  these  in 
their  turn  are  repaid  for  hours  of  patient 
drudgery  by  the  knowledge  that  they  have 
helped  to  turn  a  useless  creature  into  a  man 
or  woman  for  whom  there  is  a  place  in  the 
world. 


A  CLASSIFIED  LIST  OF  THE  PRESS  AND 

PERIODICAL   WORK   OF  NEW 

YORK  WOMEN. 


ON  CRIMINAL  REFORM. 

HELEN  CAMPBELL;  MARGARET  FULLER  OSSOLI. 

CAROLINE  A.  KEXNARD:  "Progress  in  Employment  oi 
Police  Matrons,"  Lend  a  Hand,  9  :  180. 

HELEN  H.  GARDENER:  "Thrown  in  with  the  City's  Dead," 
Arena,  3 :  61. 

ELIZABETH  ROBINS:  "Vagabonds and Criminalsof Imlui," 
Atlantic  Monthly,  53:  194 

LINDA  GILBERT. 

MRS.  C.  R.  LOWELL:  "Darkest  England  Scheme,"  Char- 
ities Review,  March,  1892. 


ON  WORK  AMONG  THE  POOR. 
HELEN  CAMPBELL:    "Child-life  in  the  Slums  of  New 

York,"  Demorest,  July,  1892. 
"Women  Wage -earners  in  America  and   Europe." 

Arena,  January,  1893. 
"  Association  in  Clubs  of  Working  Women,"  Arena, 

December,  1891. 

"Certain  Convictions  as  to  Poverty,"  Arena,  1: 10. 
"  Guilds  for  Working  Women,"  Chautauquan,  7:  604. 
"Summer  Homes  for  the  City  Poor,"  Chautauquan, 

5:  514. 
HANNAH  Fox:  "Tenement-house  Work,"  Lend  a  Hand, 

10:  41. 
HELEN  H.  GARDENER:  "  Thrown  in  with  the  City's  Dead," 

Arena,  3:  61. 

MRS.  C.  R.  LOWKLL:  "A  Year  of  Booth's  Work,"  Chari- 
ties Review,  March,  1892. 


208 


MRS.    C.   R.    LOWELL  :     "  Darkest    England    Scheme," 
Charities  Review,  July,  1892. 

LUCIA  T.  AMES:    "The  Home  in  a  Tenement  -  house," 
New  England  Magazine,  January,  1893. 

ANNA  S.   HACKETT:   "New  York  Diet-kitchen  Associa- 
tion," Munsey's  Magazine,  December,  1892. 

KATE  BOND:  "Friendly  Visits, "  Charitiet  Review. 
"The  Trend  of  Thought  concerning  Charity." 

J.  V.  MARIO:   "The  Poor  in  Naples,"  Scribner's,  Janu- 
ary, 1892. 

FLORENCE  KKLLEV  WISCHNBWETZKY  :  "A  Decade  of  Ret- 
rogression, "Arena,  4:  365. 

ALICE  W.  ROLLINS:   "Tenement  Life  in  New  York," 

Forum,  4 :  221. 
"Tenement-house  Problem,"  Forum,  5:  207. 

HELEN  CAMPBELL:  "Prisoners  of  Poverty,"  New  York 
Tribune,  1886  (series  begun  in  October). 


ON  TRAINED  NURSES  AND  NURSING. 

MRS.  FREDERICK  RHI.NELANDER  JO.NKS  :   "Training  of  a 

Nurse,"  Scri&ner'*,  8:613. 
F.  H.  NORTH  ;  "  Nursing  as  a  Profession  for  Women," 

Century,  3 : 38. 
C.  S.  WEEKS:    "Science  in  Nursing,"  Popular  Science 

Monthly,  22:497. 
LISBETH  D.  PRICK:  "Qualifications  Requisite  for  Trained 

Nurses,"  Chautauquan,  December,  1891. 
FRANCES  EMILY  WIIITK:  "  Hygiene  asa  Basis  of  Morals," 

Popular  Science  Monthly,  1889. 


ON  THE  INDIAN  QUESTION. 

"H.H."  (HELEN  HCNT):  "The  Wards  of  the  United 
States  Government,  "5crt'6wer'»,  vol.  19,  March,  1880. 

MRS.  HELEN  HUNT  JACKSON  :  "  Missions  to  the  Indians 
in  Southern  California,"  Century,  4  :  fill. 


209 


EMILY  S.  COOK  :  "Field  Matrons,"  Lend  a  Hand,  9:  399. 

ALICE  C.  FLETCHER:  "The  Preparation  of  the  Indian  for 

Citizenship,"  Lend  a  Hand,  9  :  190. 
"Personal  Studies  of  Indian  Life,"  Century,  7:  Jan- 
uary, 1893. 

MRS.  A.  S.  QUINTON:    "A   Dark    Situation,"  Indian's 
Friend,  vol.  2. 

MARY  E.  DKWEY  :  "  Present  Status  of  the  Indians,"  Lend 

a  Hand,  April,  1892. 
"  The  Indian  Need,"  Lend  a  Hand,  9 :  77. 


ON  THE  ANTISLAVERY  QUESTION. 

The  Periodical  Literature  of  Antislavery  embraces  a 

multitude  of  names  too  great  to  number.    Among  them 

are  : 

SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY,  editor  of  Revolution  and  of  National 
Citizen. 

MARY  S.  HULDAH,  and  LUCY  ANTHONY. 

REV.  ANTOINETTE  BROWN  BLACKWELL. 

DR.  ELIZABETH  BLACKWELL;  DR.  EMILY  BLACK  WELL. 

MRS.  ELIZABETH  POWELL  BOND,  MRS.  L.  MARIA  CHILD, 
editors  Juvenile  Miscellany,  the  Oast's  (an  Antislav- 
ery Annual),  Antislavery  Almanacs,  the  Antislavery 
Standard,  tracts  on  "The  Duty  of  Disobedience  to 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,"  and  "An  Appeal  in  behalf  of 
that  class  of  Americans  called  Africans." 

MRS.  PAULINA  WRIGHT  DAVIS. 

ANNA  DICKINSON. 

MRS.  HUODA  DE  GARMO. 

MRS.  ABBY  KELLEY  FOSTER. 

MRS.  FRANCES  DANA  GAGE. 

MRS.  ABBY  HOPPER  GIBBONS. 

SALLY  HOLLEY. 

REV.  PHEBE  A.  HANAFORD:  "  Lucretia,  the  Quakeress," 
an    Antislavery    Story,   published    in    Independent 
Democrat,  Concord,  N.  H. 
U 


210 


MRS.  J.  ELIZABETH  JONES. 
PHKBE  H.  JONES. 

MRS.  MARY  A.  I,i VEKMOKE :  Poem,  "Slave  Tragedy  at  Cin- 
cinnati." 

MRS.   LUCRETIA  MOTT. 

I/rniA  MOTT. 

MARIA  G.  PORTER. 

AMY  POST. 

MRS.  CAROLINE  A.  SEVERANCE. 

MRS.  ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON:  "The  Slaves'  Appeal," 
"  Free  Speech,"  etc.,  etc. 

SOJOURNKR  TRUTH,  for  many  years  a  slave  in  the  State  of 
New  York.  After  obtaining  freedom  she  tramped 
all  over  the  State  selling  the  "Narrative  of  My  Slave- 
life." 

JULIA  A.  WILBUR. 

These  lists  are  necessarily  incomplete,  much  excellent 
work  being  published  anonymously. 


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